IPL 2023: Ryan ten Doeschate appointed Kolkata Knight Riders’ fielding coach
Former Netherlands captain Ryan ten Doeschate is all set to take over as the fielding coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders. The prolific all-rounder will replace James Foster who has been promoted to the assistant coach of the side. Earlier, Chandrakant Pandit had replaced Brendon McCullum as the KKR head coach after the latter joined England Test side for the same role.
Notably, ten Doeschate played a significant part in the title winning campaigns for the KKR franchise in 2012 and 2014. The 42-year-old played a total of 29 games in IPL and went onto score 326 runs at an average of 23.29 and a strike rate of 138.72 with the highest score of 70. He also contributed with the ball alongside being a live wire in the field.
The KKR team had stated that ten Doeschate has “always been a Knight Rider”. Having joined the KKR franchise, Ten Doeschate will get the opportunity to work as the assistant coach with the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, an ILT20 subsidiary franchise. This will be a massive boost to the franchise given his credentials with bat, ball and in the field
Ten Doeschate’s mind-boggling numbers in international cricket
Ten Doeschate had a phenomenal run in his short international career for the Dutch side in ODIs, and played a big part in the T20I setup until the previous edition of the World T20. His average of 67 in ODIs speaks volumes of his abilities with the bat and he had the knack of picking up wickets regularly.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands recently produced a major upset against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2022 and has grown in stature in terms of their bowling department considerably. The likes of Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede and Paul van Meekeren were impressive on their own and managed to finish in the fourth position in the points table to earn a direct qualification for the next T20 World Cup.