‘Coaches are scared’: Former India coach opens up on confronting Virat Kohli over technical foul

Former India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate opened up about a behind-the-scenes interview with Virat Kohli during India’s tour of Australia and revealed how he carefully planned a technical intervention with the batting superstar after noticing a recurring error in his batting.Kohli endured a difficult run during the tour, repeatedly being dismissed when he tried to drive deliveries outside the off-stump. As the same pattern of dismissals has become a topic of discussion, questions have been raised as to whether the Indian coaching staff is doing enough to address the issue.Ten Doeschate explained on the talkSPORT Cricket podcast that approaching an established international star with technical suggestions is not always easy. He believes the growing influence of players in modern cricket has made several coaches hesitant to intervene when senior players are going through a difficult phase.“I think a lot of coaches are afraid to interfere because it looks like you’re trying to justify your job, or you’re interfering, or you’re just saying things to say things,” Ten Doeschate said.“You have to strike a balance between making a hit that helps the player or confusing them.The former Netherlands all-rounder said he was determined not to let the fear of how a player might react stop him from giving advice. He recalled how he finally approached Kohli during the fourth Test of the Australia tour to discuss his repeated dismissals.“I never want to be a coach who’s afraid of somebody else’s opinion for stepping in, for saying the right thing. I actually just told a really great story about Virat and the problems he had in Australia with ball control and cutting. I ended up going to step in and have a chat with him in the fourth Test. And he was great at it! And he actually wanted to have a chat with him,” he said.However, Ten Doeschate admitted that opening such a conversation with a player of Kohli’s stature can be a delicate exercise. According to him, coaches must consider not only what they want to convey, but also how and when they convey the message.“But I feel like for a coach to go to a player like Virat Kohli to step in and almost call him what’s going on can be dangerous for you as a coach. And I think it’s so important to get it right and how to deliver it.”“The way the power shift has shifted towards the players in the modern era means that many coaches are afraid to bring up the subject or at least talk about it.”Ten Doeschate went on to explain that the goal of coaching should not necessarily be to convince a player to abandon a preferred approach. Instead, it should involve understanding the mindset of the batter and finding ways to make adjustments without taking away what he is comfortable with.He recalled Kohli explaining his reasons for continuing to play the way he did, making the exchange more of a discussion than a one-sided technical tutorial.“You don’t have to agree. You can say, ‘I want to go up for these reasons’ and that’s actually what happened with Virat. He really explained why he wanted to play the way he played and then you can tweak it,” Ten Doeschate revealed.The former assistant coach also pointed out the dangers of putting technical doubts in a batsman’s mind at the wrong time. A player preparing to face a high-quality fast bowler could become distracted if he begins to think too much about a certain aspect of his technique.“There’s always a risk that you kind of throw his frame off. You know, he might be in a really good spot and now you’re like, ‘You know, I noticed when you’re pulling … you’re just taking your eyes off the ball.’ Technically, you might want him to track the ball a bit longer, but now he’s suddenly thinking about a pull and has to go out and face Mitchell Starc. So there is no time for that,” he said.Ten Doeschate revealed that an interview with Kohli had been on his mind for some time before he finally found the right opportunity during the rain.He said the repeated nature of Kohli’s dismissals made him think carefully about how to broach the subject without making the batter feel his technique was being questioned.“It was bubbling away in that situation and it was more about me taking courage and delivering it in the right way. I was fortunate enough to have a decent relationship with Virat. He’s obviously not someone who needs a lot of coaching and that was one thing that really stood out – the way the dismissals are the same – the same,” he said.Ten Doeschate explained how he ultimately approached the conversation, saying he deliberately avoided making it sound like a direct criticism of Kohli’s batting.“So I thought about it a lot and thought about how I could deliver it. You know, I’m not going to go up to him and say, ‘Dude, you’ve got cover troops all over the show.’ But then I found a time—it was during a rain break—where I could deliver it in a fairly non-confrontational way. And credit to him that the way he took it ended up being a really great discussion.”While the intervention towards the end of the series did not produce the desired result, Ten Doeschate saw the experience as an important lesson in communication and coaching.“Unfortunately it didn’t deliver the results we wanted towards the end of the series, but you know, I’d say if you can deliver it to someone like him, you can deliver it to anyone. Just finding the right way to deliver the message is really important,” he added.