5 interesting facts about Zakary Foulkes, CSK's new signing at IPL 2026 Auction 

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) made several shrewd acquisitions during the accelerated round of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction, which includes Zak Foulkes. The New Zealand pacer joins the five-time champions for his base price of ₹75 Lakh after an impressive start to his international career.

The 23-year-old has made his debut for New Zealand across all formats, beginning with T20I cricket in April 2024. Since then, he has bagged 40 wickets across 27 appearances and is becoming a key part in the Blackcaps' pace batery for future as they move on from Trent Boult, Tim Southee, among others.

On that note, let us take a look at five interesting facts about Zakary Foulkes, CSK's new signing at IPL 2026 Auction.

#1 Zak Foulkes hails from a cricketing family

The New Zealand pacer comes from a family deeply invested in cricket, with roots in the sport that run deep. His brother Glen, and brothers Liam and Robbie have played for Canterbury, much like Zak. Robbie has even gone on to represent the country in the 2024 U-19 World Cup in South Africa, where he scored 33 runs in two matches.

Liam, on the other hand, is currently involved with Cricket Ireland as their national game development manager. He was appointed in May 2024.

#2 Zak Foulkes began his career as a batter

If the words of Foulkes' coaches and colleagues are to be believed, he has a high ceiling in terms of his batting ability, and there is a lot more to come in that regard. At school-level cricket and in the youth level, the player largely played as a top-order batter who could bowl a bit of medium pace.

"He’d be the first to say it, he’s a batter and he doesn’t like being pigeoned as a bowler that bats a little bit. He was always an opening batsman. The world hasn’t seen his batting yet, put it that way, which is exciting," Zak's father Glen told The Press.

He has been backed to be New Zealand's future No.7 across all formats by Canterbury coach, and former player, Peter Fulton.

"He's shown glimpses of that at first-class level for Canterbury, but he just hasn't had the opportunities in international cricket yet. I have no doubt in the next two or three years, if he gets those opportunities with the bat, then hopefully he can be the guy that maybe bats at seven in all three forms for New Zealand, Fulton told ESPN in November.

So far, he has three first-class and two List-A fifties to his name, and has a strike rate of 140 in T20Is.

#3 Zak Foulkes holds the record of best figures by a New Zealand player on Test debut

Zak Foulkes made his red-ball international debut during the tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year in August. He immediately became the star of the show with his four wickets in the first innings, where he ran through the middle order, including the key scalp of opposition skipper, Sean Williams.

He followed it up with a maiden five-wicket haul in the second innings to bowl Zimbabwe out for 117 to help the Blackcaps record a massive win by an innings and 359 runs. His match figures of 9-75 are the 20th on the all-time list of best figures on debut, and he broke the national record as well, which was recently made by William O'Rourke in 2024.

#4 Zak Foulkes tried his hand at Rugby in his youth days

Much like many New Zealanders, Zak Foulkes did have a brief stint playing Rugby during his youth days, but it did not quite pan out.

“He did have a bit of talent in rugby, he was just a bit slow. He had all the skills and vision, but he didn’t have the pace at that age," his father Glen said.

#5 Zak Foulkes hit a last-ball six to send Canterbury into 2024 Super Smash Final

The aforementioned batting ability was on display when he struck Wellington and Netherlands pacer Logan van Beek for a last-ball six to send Canterbury into the finals of the 2024 Super Smash Final in Hamilton.

Playing against a side that had Kiwi superstars like Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Adam Milne, and Michael Bracewell, Foulkes was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-31 to restrict the opposition to 173-7.

With the bat, coming into the run chase at 122-5, Foulkes scored 11 runs off seven deliveries, which included a mighty last-ball six when three runs were needed.

Edited by Gokul Nair