Ryan ten Doeschate has joined Knight Riders Sports as its Head of Cricket Strategy, a position that spans all of the group’s franchise teams.
His remit will include scouting, player recruitment, squad planning and performance evaluation across the Knight Riders network.
Ten Doeschate will also serve as Assistant Coach for Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20, and Los Angeles Knight Riders in the MLC.
His association with the franchise began in 2011 as a Kolkata Knight Riders player, featuring in the team’s IPL title wins of 2012 and 2014.
He came back as a coach between 2022 and 2024, forming part of the coaching staff for KKR’s third IPL title in 2024.
Venky Mysore, CEO of Knight Riders Sports, said the organisation was delighted to welcome him back given his understanding of the group’s philosophy and broad cricketing experience.
Ten Doeschate said he was looking forward to working with coaching and analytics teams across the franchises to strengthen scouting and player-development systems.
His appointment comes after he stepped down as assistant coach of the Indian men’s team following its white-ball series in England.
Knight Riders Sports is co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, which holds a 55 per cent stake, with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta’s Mehta Group owning the remaining 45 per cent; the group also owns Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.
Ten Doeschate is a former Netherlands international remembered for two centuries at the 2011 World Cup, including a famous 119 against England, and for a near two-decade career at Essex, whom he captained to two County Championship titles before retiring in 2021.
Ten Doeschate’s return comes as several franchises across global T20 leagues have moved to centralise scouting and player-development functions across their multi-team ownership groups, rather than running each franchise’s cricket operations in isolation.
(Image: Photo by Partha Bhaumik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
