Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill are not in best of the form in T20Is.
During India's 51-run loss in New Chandigarh on Thursday, Gill was dismissed on the first ball as South Africa tied the five-match series 1-1. Suryakumar, who managed just five from four balls, did not fare any better. Ten Doeschate, however, was quick to defend the two.
"I saw some good signs of a change in mentality on the back end of that Australian tour (in Shubman). Even with these two dismissals in this series, in the first game, we asked the guys to go out and attack on the power play, and the wicket was not very great at Cuttack. So I will let him go off with that one. Today, he got out to a great ball. This can happen when you are short on form. But we also believe in his class. If you look at his IPL records, he has stacked 600-700-800 runs, and he will come good,” Ten Doeschate stated during the post-match presser.
"Exactly the same situation with Surya, obviously, you mentioned about leadership roles. We are quite far down the road in terms of our planning and how we have set the team up. So you back quality players and leaders like these. From outside, I understand it could be a concern, but I have absolute faith in them coming good at the right time for us," he added.
Suryakumar has scored 201 runs in 17 T20I innings this year, averaging 14.35, with a strike rate of over 126 and no fifty. Gill's performance has improved marginally, but not much, as he has scored 263 runs in 14 innings at an average of 23.90, with a strike rate of more than 142, no fifty, and a best score of 47.
Ryan ten Doeschate also stated that since taking over captaincy on the England tour, Shubman Gill is doing very well and is taking pride in his performance.
"Towards the back end of the Australian tour, there were talks about freeing up a little bit, trying not to make the responsibility feel like it is all about you, and relinquishing such thoughts. We want him to play as freely as he does during the IPL. Even Surya, I thought, had a "light bulb" moment in Australia and had been batting well heading into the series. We have high expectations for our players. He is quality, but has been out of form for a while now.
But in isolation, we are not worried about that. As a number three, we want him to attack and score runs. But we feel he will come good. His leadership has been fantastic, and he has gotten the team moving in the right direction in terms of plans, buy-ins from other players. Runs will come," he concluded.
(ANI inputs)