Punjab Kings will rely heavily on other pacers in IPL 2026.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) will be without Lockie Ferguson for the initial phase of IPL 2026, as the pacer will spend time with his family. His absence will be a massive hit for last year’s runners-up, as Ferguson has all the attributes to bowl across phases and ease Arshdeep Singh’s workload.
The biggest reason Punjab Kings will miss him is his hit-the-deck ability, which makes him one of the best middle-overs operators in T20s. Since 2025, Ferguson has 13 wickets at 27.15 runs apiece and an economy rate of 8.05 in this phase.
In the current squad, PBKS don’t have any other out-and-out hit-the-deck pacer, even though Marcus Stoinis can bowl into the pitch, but with a slightly lower pace. There’s Vijaykumar Vyshak, who has a decent pace, but he doesn’t bowl hard lengths and rather focuses on yorkers and wider lines to generate some reverse swing.
Other pace options like Azmatullah Omarzai and Marco Jansen are again new-ball specialists, with the latter capable of bowling a couple of overs at the death with his improved control over yorkers and added slower-ball variations. Hence, Lockie Ferguson will be a big miss for Punjab Kings, for he offers what no other pacer in the squad does.
Apart from relying heavily on the main pacers, Punjab Kings will also want a better show and more overs from Marcus Stoinis in Lockie Ferguson’s unavailability in the initial half of IPL 2026. He bowls mostly on shorter lengths at various paces and has picked 26.53% of total wickets from back-of-a-length or short deliveries since last year.
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In the last couple of IPL seasons, Stoinis has bowled around 41.01% of total balls and picked 57.14% of his total wickets from these lengths. So, he must do the heavy lifting in the middle overs to allow Vyshak to focus on his strengths: extracting old-ball swing in the second half of the innings.
Stoinis had a quiet IPL 2025 with the ball, but his recent form has been good: 12 wickets at 18.41 runs apiece and an economy rate of 7.84 in 10 T20 innings this year. 6 of those scalps have been between overs 7 and 16 at an average of 19.33, and he has also bowled 42.16% of dot balls.
Punjab Kings also have a weak spin attack, with Yuzvendra Chahal not being at his best for a while, which will further exacerbate their issues in the middle overs. A lot will depend on how Marcus Stoinis and Vijaykumar Vyshak operate once the ball loses its shine.
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