New Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], December 12 (ANI): Following India's 51-run loss to South Africa in the second T20I, Men in Blue's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate backed the captain and vice-captain pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill to find runs soon after facing a long dry patch, saying that with the latter, he saw a 'good sign of change in mentality' towards the end of tour to Australia.

The struggles of India's powerhouse batters, Suryakumar and Gill, continued as India succumbed to a 51-run defeat against the Proteas, which could largely be attributed to a poor start from the top order. While the batting average and strike rate alike are on a downward trajectory for Suryakumar, Shubman has been struggling to replicate his longer-format form into the shortest format of the game, despite a few bursts of promise since his return.

Speaking about the duo, Ryan said during the post-match presser, '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.'

'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.

This year in T20Is, Suryakumar has made 201 runs in 17 innings at an average of 14.35, with a strike rate of over 126 and no fifty to his name. His best score is 47* and he looks a far cry from the dominating 'Mr 360' batter he was over an year back. Gill has had things slightly better, but it is not saying much, as he has made 263 runs in 14 innings at an average of 23.90, with a strike rate of over 142 and no fifty and best score of 47.

Further speaking on Shubman's form, Ryan said that after taking the captaincy in England during the five-match Test series and doing really well and taking pride in his performance, he got 'too caring and tight' in T20Is, as that element of pride and happiness carried into his game.

'Towards the back end of the Australian tour, there were talks about freeing up a little bit, trying to not make the responsibility feel like that it is all about you, and relinquish 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 from our players. He is quality, 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 got the team moving in the right direction in terms of plans, buy-ins from other players. Runs will come,' he concluded.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. A quickfire 90 in 46 balls, with five fours and seven sixes by Quinton and brilliant finish from Ferreira (30* in 16 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Miller (20* in 12 balls, with two fours and a six), who put on a 53-run stand towards the end in just 23 balls, took SA to 213/4 in 20 overs.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2/29) was the pick of the bowlers for India, while Bumrah (0/45) and Arshdeep Singh (0/54) had an off-colour day.

During the chase, India sank to 32/3 after a top-order failure. Tilak Varma (62 in 33 balls, with two fours and five sixes) got some support from Hardik Pandya (20 in 23 balls, with a six) and Jitesh Sharma (27 in 17 balls, with two fours and two sixes), but it was not enough as India was skittled out for 162 runs in 19.1 overs, with pacer Ottneil Baartman (4/24) being the top bowler. (ANI)