Ryan ten Doeschate has returned to Knight Riders Sports, taking up the newly filled role of Head of Cricket Strategy across all of its franchise teams.
He will oversee scouting, player recruitment, squad planning and performance evaluation across the Knight Riders’ global operations.
Alongside this role, ten Doeschate will 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 Knight Riders history dates back to 2011, when he played for Kolkata Knight Riders and was part of the team’s IPL-winning squads in 2012 and 2014.
He returned as a coach from 2022 to 2024, during which time he was part of the staff for KKR’s third IPL title win in 2024.
Knight Riders Sports CEO Venky Mysore said the group was delighted to welcome him back, pointing to his understanding of the franchise’s philosophy and broad experience in franchise and international cricket.
Ten Doeschate said the role gave him a chance to work with coaching and analytics teams across the franchises to strengthen scouting and player-development systems.
He takes up the position shortly after stepping 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, holding a 55 per cent stake, alongside Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta’s Mehta Group with the remaining 45 per cent; the same 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)
