Former India coach Ryan ten Doeschate claims coaches are ‘scared’ to approach Virat Kohli

Former India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate opened up about how coaches are often scared, or rather hesitant, to approach players like Virat Kohli to address a flaw in their batting technique. Revealing inside details of how he approached Kohli midway through Virat’s last Test series - the away BGT in 2024/2025 - over his repetitive technical flaw, the former Netherlands batter said he had to strike a balance between justifying his job (as the batting coach) and intervening in a player’s set style of play, which he did well. Surprisingly, as he claims, Kohli took it sportingly, too.

Following Kohli’s drought-breaking unbeaten 100 in the second innings of the series opener in Perth, which helped India take an early 1-0 lead in the five-match series, Kohli’s form dipped drastically, as he managed 98 more runs in the remaining eight innings on the tour. Fans, pundits, and experts worried about his similar dismissals: edging while chasing the fourth and fifth stump line, which required some intervention from the coaches.

Revealing more details on the talkSPORT Cricket podcast, the former India batting coach said that modern ‘player power’ has altered the dressing room dynamics, explaining how international coaches hesitate to step in when a superstar cricketer, like Virat Kohli, struggles.

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"I think a lot of coaches are afraid to make interventions because it can be seen that you are, you know, trying to justify your job, or you're interfering, or just saying things for the sake of saying it," Ten Doeschate said. "You've got to strike the balance of making an intervention that's going to help the player, or confusing them."

Ten Doeschate also revealed that it took some courage to breach that cloud and approach Virat about his technical flaws.

"I never want to be a coach who is scared of an opinion of someone else for stepping in, for saying the right thing. I actually was just telling a really great story about Virat and the troubles he had in Australia with driving the ball and nicking off. Eventually, in the fourth Test, I went to intervene and chat to him. And he was brilliant about it! And he actually wanted someone to chat to him.

"But my sense is, for a coach to go to a player like Virat Kohli and intervene and almost call them out on what's happening can be dangerous for you as a coach. And I think getting the wording right around that and how you deliver it is so important.

"The way the power shift has moved towards the players in the modern era does mean that a lot of coaches are scared to bring up topics or at least get talking about it,” he continued.

Although Ten Doeschate could communicate his concerns with Virat, it failed to yield any results as India lost the away BGT 3-1, with Virat announcing his Test retirement before the UK tour later that year.