Dhoni-led Indian team better suited to T20 than Tests: Ponting

Melbourne, Nov 18 (UNI) The 0-2 loss to Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Team India must have came as a big surprise to Ricky Ponting who believed that the 2007 World Cup winning captain and his band of boys were better suited for Twenty20 cricket rather than the Tests.

Ponting's belief had a lot to do with Indian team's success in South Africa where it went on to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.

In his book 'Captain's Diary 2008', Ponting wrote that teams, which do not have a great success record in Tests and 50-over format, would be more dangerous in Twenty20 and Dhoni-led Indian team was a ''classic example'' to prove that.

''Teams that are outclassed in five-day matches and even 50-over games are much more competitive in Twenty20. India offer a good example of this. The shorter the format of the game the more dangerous they become,'' Ponting wrote.

He said players like Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni can hurt the opposition more in Twenty20 cricket because in the the shortest version of the game, players hardly get an opportunity to showcase their technique.

''Some of their batsmen - Yuvraj Singh and M S Dhoni are classic examples - can hurt you more in shorter games, because their is less opportunity to find ways of picking apart their techniques,'' he said and added, ''Form in Twenty20 really doesn't count for all that much.'' He went to write that India's success in Twenty20 World Cup had more to do with luck than skills.

''I am not as cynical about the game as I once was, but some negatives still nag at me. There is so much luck involved in this shortened form of the game; it's not always going to be the best team that wins.

''I guess that's true of all sport but it seems to be accentuated here... Little wonder, then, that the tournament has been unpredictable, with many locals stunned that previously unbeaten South Africa was eliminated so comfortably by India,'' he added.

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