Ryan Ten Doeschate Joins Indian Cricket Team as Assistant Coach to Tackle Spin Challenges

New Delhi, India – Ryan ten Doeschate, the former Netherlands all-rounder, has taken on a new role as one of India’s assistant coaches. Working under head coach Gautam Gambhir, ten Doeschate quickly identified that improving Indian batters’ play against spin would be crucial as the team prepares for an intense home season featuring five Test matches, two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand.

“One of the challenges I wasn’t expecting and I kind of overlooked is the playing of spin by Indian batters,” ten Doeschate told TalkSport Cricket. His comments follow India’s recent three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka, where the team lost 27 wickets to spin, raising concerns about their ability to handle spin bowling.

Captain Rohit Sharma acknowledged the issue, emphasizing the need to focus on playing spin. Ten Doeschate believes this problem reflects a broader shift in Indian cricket’s focus. “The mindset of India has been such that they’ve been so desperate to do well overseas,” he said. “The focus has moved to doing well in Australia, England [so] that we’ve kind of let playing spin, which was always a strength of the Indian team, fall back a little bit.”

At 44, ten Doeschate brings extensive experience from his playing days and coaching career, having worked with teams like Kent, Kolkata Knight Riders, and LA Knight Riders in Major League Cricket. Now, alongside Abhishek Nayar, he aims to help India’s batting lineup regain its status as the world’s best against spin.

Ten Doeschate’s approach will focus on mental preparation rather than technical adjustments. “[It’s about] throwing ideas out there, de-briefing and keeping the mental space really good. That’s going to be really important,” he noted.

Despite the challenges of joining a successful team fresh off a World Cup victory, ten Doeschate is excited and cautious about the future. With India eyeing the World Test Championship (WTC) final next June, he sees significant opportunities in the 10 Tests remaining in this cycle, five at home and five in Australia later in the year.

Beyond the WTC, ten Doeschate is also looking forward to the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 2026 T20 World Cup, acknowledging the difficulty of switching between formats while maintaining high performance. “Then in the medium term there’s the Champions Trophy [in February 2025]. With only three ODIs left in the prep phase, it’s going to be really challenging to switch between the formats and get the team ready for that,” he added.

As he settles into his new role, ten Doeschate is energized by the prospect of guiding India through a packed and challenging schedule over the next 18 months. “Then in the next [WTC] cycle, the tour to England [summer of 2025] is going to be fantastic and then prepping the team for the [2026] T20 World Cup. In terms of timing, it’s quite difficult to walk into a team that’s just come back with the [2024 T20] World Cup, but in terms of what’s ahead for the next 18 months, it’s mouth-watering as a coach,” he noted.