Ryan ten Doeschate joins Knight Riders as head of cricket strategy

Ryan ten Doeschate has joined the Knight Riders Group as the head of cricket strategy after parting ways with Team India. The Knight Riders Group owns Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR), Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) in the IPL, MLC, CPL and ILT20, respectively.

In his new role, ten Doeschate will be responsible for scouting, player recruitment, squad planning and performance evaluation across all teams. The latest development comes a day after ten Doeschate and the BCCI parted ways. He served as the assistant coach to the Men in Blue for a two-year period during which they clinched the ICC Champions Trophy, the T20 World Cup and the Asia Cup.

The Dutch has a long association with Knight Riders. Ten Doeschate played 29 games in the IPL, all for KKR, from 2011 to 2015. He was a part of the 2012 and 2014 title-winning squad. He then joined the coaching staff in 2022 and remained till 2024, working in tandem with team mentor Gautam Gambhir and head coach Chandrakant Pandit, which led to a title-winning run under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer. Ten Doeschate then followed in Gambhir's footsteps to join Team India.

"I'm excited to be back with the Knight Riders in this role," ten Doeschate said in his statement. "This is a unique opportunity to work with the coaching and analytics teams across our global franchises to strengthen our scouting/player development systems, and to build a long-term cricket strategy."

Ten Doeschate will regroup with KKR's head coach Abhishek Nayar. Both of them worked together at Team India and also at KKR previously.

"We are delighted to welcome Tendo back to the Knight Riders family," Knight Riders group CEO Venky Mysore said. "His deep understanding of our philosophy, combined with his experience across franchise and international cricket, makes him ideally suited for this role. He will help shape the next phase of growth across the Knight Riders ecosystem."

Notably, Kolkata Knight Riders finished seventh on the IPL 2026 points table with six wins, seven losses and a no result in what was largely a forgettable season, marred by injuries.