By Daniel Nyeko
Former Cricket Cranes head coach Abhay Sharma has joined India Premier League (IPL) side Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), based in Lucknow, as a fielding coach ahead of the 2026 IPL season.
Sharma’s last assignment was with the Uganda national men’s cricket team as head coach, where he was instrumental in Uganda’s maiden T20 World Cup appearance in 2024.
The 56‑year‑old tactician also served as India’s U‑19 fielding coach and coached the 2025 Women’s World Cup‑winning Indian team.
LSG made the IPL playoffs in its first two seasons and finished a distant seventh in the last two editions.
The franchise recently announced Tom Moody as its Director of Cricket and New Zealand cricket legend Kane Williamson as its strategic advisor. Wicket‑keeper‑batter Rishabh Rajendra Pant leads the side coached by Justin Langer.
A confidant of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) remarked that Abhay Sharma has extensive experience working with Indian cricketers, which should prove valuable at LSG. Sharma, a former first‑class cricketer, has worked with LSG captain Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Dhrul Jurel, Avesh Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the U‑19 level.
He resigned as Uganda’s head coach last month after the ICC Africa T20 World Cup Qualifiers, in which Zimbabwe and Namibia secured spots in the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Sharma’s tenure with Uganda was unwavering, and Cricket Uganda can leverage his contacts for capacity building.
