Here's happened when Ryan ten Doeschate finally confronted Virat Kohli about his batting in final Test series

Approaching a big player like Virat Kohli is not an easy task. However, this coach was shocked by the response of the legendary batter when he finally provided Kohli with feedback. Former India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has lifted the lid on a delicate conversation he had with Kohli during the star batter’s final Test series in Australia, revealing how the Indian legend reacted when confronted about his repeated cover-drive struggles.

Speaking on the talkSPORT Cricket podcast, ten Doeschate described the challenges of intervening with a player of Kohli’s stature during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli’s tour began promisingly with an unbeaten century in Perth, but quickly unravelled. He finished the five-Test series with just 190 runs at an average of 23.75, dismissed eight times in near-identical fashion, often caught behind or in the slips while attempting expansive drives at deliveries in the corridor of uncertainty.

Here's happened when a coach finally confronted Virat Kohli about his batting in final Test series

In the aforementioned cricket podcast, ten Doeschate revealed:

“I never want to be a coach who is scared of someone else’s opinion or of stepping in and saying the right thing.”

Doeschate admitted the issue had been “bubbling away” and that he needed to build the courage to raise it. He added:

“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... Getting the wording right and how you deliver it is so important.”

The former Netherlands international waited until a rain break in the fourth Test to approach Kohli in a carefully non-confrontational manner. He said:

“I’m not going to go to him and say, ‘Mate, you’ve got cover drives all over the show.’ But I then worked out a time... where I could deliver it in quite a non-confrontational way.”

The former coach recalled further:

“Credit to him, the way he took it on ended up being a really great discussion.”

Kohli’s response surprised and impressed the coach. He revealed:

“He was brilliant about it. He actually wanted someone to speak to him.”

The pair had an open exchange in which Kohli explained his reasons for playing the way he did, particularly his desire to drive on the up.

“You don’t have to agree. You might say, ‘I want to drive on the up for these reasons,’ and that’s actually what happened with Virat. He really explained why he wanted to play in the way he played, and then you can tweak around that.”

Ten Doeschate noted that Kohli was not a player who required constant coaching and that their existing relationship helped facilitate the talk. He also reflected on a broader trend in modern cricket, where the growing power of senior players has made many coaches hesitant to offer frank feedback. He cited coaches such as Gary Kirsten and Eric Simons as examples of those skilled at starting conversations rather than imposing views.

Although the discussion did not produce the turnaround India hoped for in the latter stages of the series, Kohli’s final Test innings in Sydney yielded just six runs before he was caught at slip off Scott Boland ten Doeschate viewed it as a valuable exercise.

Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket a few months after the tour. Meanwhile, the revelation offers a rare insight into the dynamics between coaches and elite players, and the careful balance required when addressing technical issues with one of the modern game’s greats.

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