Ryan ten Doeschate has stepped down as India’s men’s assistant coach after the white-ball series in England. He informed the BCCI about his decision while the team was still in the UK, where India lost both the T20I and ODI series. Ten Doeschate is now set to join Kolkata Knight Riders in a coaching role.
Fielding Coach T Dilip Also Exits
T Dilip, India’s fielding coach, will not get a contract extension either. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed to PTI that ten Doeschate’s contract had ended on June 10, while Dilip’s ended on June 8. Saikia said the board kept both coaches on until the UK tour finished, but will not extend their terms.
He added that there was no question of accepting resignations, since the contracts had simply run their course. The BCCI is currently speaking with two or three candidates for the fielding coach position and expects to finalise a name within a day or two, ahead of India’s tour of Sri Lanka in August.
Ten Doeschate joined the India setup after Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach from Rahul Dravid, following the team’s 2024 T20 World Cup win. Gambhir handpicked him for the role, and he worked across both batting and fielding departments during his tenure. The team saw major success during this period.
India secured victory at the 2025 Champions Trophy, 2025 Asia Cup, and retained their 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup trophy. The Indian Test team was under-performing, going through a transition period. India could not win the 2025-26 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, and also suffered home series defeats to New Zealand and South Africa, losing 0-3 and 0-2 respectively.
A Long-Standing Bond With KKR
At KKR, ten Doeschate will reunite with Abhishek Nayar, another coach with deep ties to the franchise. The two had briefly worked together as assistant coaches in the India setup, and before that, they had also coached together at KKR. Ten Doeschate’s history with the Kolkata franchise goes back to his playing days. He won two IPL titles with KKR, in 2012 and 2014, and later returned as fielding coach in 2022.
He remained part of the coaching staff until 2024, a stretch that included a title win under Chandrakant Pandit as head coach and Gambhir as mentor. He left that role once Gambhir moved on to coach the national team.
Dilip’s Second Stint Comes To An End
Dilip is exiting after his second spell with the Indian team. He first served as fielding coach from 2021 until the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He returned for a second stint during India’s Test tour of the UK in 2025, which lasted a year.
With both coaches now departing, the BCCI faces the task of rebuilding its support staff before the Sri Lanka tour gets underway. The board has not named a timeline for appointing ten Doeschate’s replacement as assistant coach, though the fielding coach decision is expected imminently.
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