By Ryan ten Doeschate has been named Head of Cricket Strategy at Knight Riders Sports, a role that covers all four teams under the organisation’s franchise umbrella.
He will be responsible for scouting, recruitment, squad planning and performance evaluation across the Knight Riders network of franchises.
Ten Doeschate will simultaneously 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 history with the franchise began in 2011 as a Kolkata Knight Riders player, featuring in the team’s IPL-winning campaigns of 2012 and 2014.
He returned in a coaching capacity between 2022 and 2024, forming part of the staff that guided KKR to its third IPL title in 2024.
Knight Riders Sports CEO Venky Mysore said the group was delighted to welcome back a figure with such deep knowledge of the organisation’s approach and wide experience across franchise and international cricket.
Ten Doeschate said he was looking forward to working alongside coaching and analytics teams across the franchises to strengthen scouting and development systems.
The appointment comes soon after he stepped down as assistant coach of the Indian men’s team following its white-ball assignment in England.
The Knight Riders franchise group is majority-owned by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment at 55 per cent, with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta’s Mehta Group holding the remaining 45 per cent; the same owners also run Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.
A former Netherlands international, ten Doeschate is best known for two centuries at the 2011 World Cup, including an unforgettable 119 against England, and for a long playing career at Essex, whom he captained to two County Championship titles before retiring at the end of 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)
