(July 26), Prior to the T20I series against Sri Lanka, Team India’s assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate, arrived in Pallekele.
Ryan ten Doeschate, a former all-rounder for the Netherlands, has joined Team India in Sri Lanka. Ten Doeschate is one of the two assistant coaches from India in new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s support staff; the other is Abhishek Nayar. Ten Doeschate saw the Indian dressing room for the first time on Thursday, the third day of India’s practice in Pallekele.
Ten Doeschate, who was in the US as part of the support staff at the LA Knight Riders in Major League Cricket, flew directly to Colombo and then joined the Indian squad in Pallekele on Thursday, July 25, while all of the cricket players and support staff members flew together from Mumbai.
On Saturday, July 27, India vs. Sri Lanka will play their first Twenty20 International.
There are longstanding ties between Nayar and Ten Doeschate and Gambhir. In the 2024 Indian Premier League, all three served as coaches for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Ten Doeschate was assigned as the team’s fielding coach, Nayar as the assistant coach, and Gambhir as the team mentor.
The former star from the Netherlands actually spent five seasons playing for KKR under Gambhir’s leadership. For KKR, ten Doeschate appeared in 41 games between 2011 and 2015. He was already part of the three-time champions’ backroom crew when Gambhir joined for the final season.
The Indian cricket setup is seeing two assistant coaches for the first time. Remarkably, no such position existed under the administrations of Rahul Dravid, Ravi Shastri, or Anil Kumble. There were several support staff members, including throwdown specialists, physiotherapists, analysts, and others, in addition to batting, bowling, and fielding coaches.
During Gambhir’s tenure, things have somewhat changed, at least from the current state of affairs. He has ten Doeschate and two assistant coaches in Nayar. The existence of a batting coach is not mentioned. T Dilip, who served as India’s fielding coach under Dravid, has been extended. NCA coach Sairaj Bahutule is in Sri Lanka as a temporary replacement for the bowling coach.
The BCCI has not yet made any formal announcements about Gambhir’s support team, but they most likely will follow the tour of Sri Lanka.
