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'Test series will be a completely different challenge for India'

November 02, 2015 08:45 IST

Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane warm up during a practice session

IMAGE: Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane warm up during a practice session. Photograph: PTI

MS Dhoni believes India will do well in the Test series against South Africa if the matches are played on wickets that have something to help the spinners.

Dhoni was emphatic that the results in T20 and ODI series - both of which India lost - would have no bearing on the Test matches.

"Results of T20 and ODIs will not bother players at all, because a Test is a completely different challenge. If you get wickets like Chennai (fourth ODI), the Test series will be very interesting, reason being it's a long series and that's (turning wicket) the challenge you face when it comes to Indian cricket.

Indian captain MS Dhoni during the fifth ODI in Mumbai

IMAGE: Indian captain MS Dhoni during the fifth ODI in Mumbai. Photograph: BCCI

"Indian cricket is not about flat wickets. I love playing on wickets that turn. I love playing on wickets where there's some kind of challenge for batsmen to score. It will be an interesting series," added Dhoni, who has already retired from Tests.

Asked whether slightly more turning wickets were advisable for ODIs too, he said "It should be the case, you don't get turning tracks in Jo'burg or any other place.

"You have to play to your strength, but at times they (pitches) are over-rolled and you get very flat wickets. It's something which keeps happening," he said. A flat wicket at the Wankhede was one of the reasons behind India's embarrassing 214-run loss against South Africa in the fifth and final ODI, a defeat that cost them the series.

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