Ryan ten Doeschate has been appointed Head of Cricket Strategy at Knight Riders Sports, marking his return to the organisation in a role spanning its global franchises.
In his new position, ten Doeschate will oversee scouting, player recruitment, squad planning and performance evaluation across the Knight Riders network of teams.
He will also serve as Assistant Coach for Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20, and Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket.
Ten Doeschate first joined Knight Riders as a player in 2011 and was a key member of Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL title-winning squads in 2012 and 2014.
He later returned to the organisation as a coach between 2022 and 2024, and was part of the coaching staff when KKR won its third IPL title in 2024.
Knight Riders Sports CEO Venky Mysore said the organisation was “delighted to welcome Tendo back to the Knight Riders family,” citing his deep understanding of the team’s philosophy and experience across franchise and international cricket.
Ten Doeschate said he was “excited to be back with the Knight Riders in this role” and looked forward to working with coaching and analytics teams across the global franchises to strengthen scouting and player-development systems.
The appointment comes after ten Doeschate stepped down as India’s men’s assistant coach following the team’s white-ball series in England earlier in 2026.
Knight Riders Sports is co-owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, which holds a 55 per cent stake, alongside Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta’s Mehta Group, which owns the remaining 45 per cent; the same ownership group also runs Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.
Ten Doeschate himself is a former Netherlands international, best remembered for two centuries at the 2011 World Cup including a stunning 119 against England, and for a near two-decade playing career at Essex, whom he twice captained to the County Championship title before retiring at the end of the 2021 season.
(Image: Photo by Partha Bhaumik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
