Johannesburg: New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori finds the job of leading the Twenty20 side a challenging one, but hopes this latest offering of cricket will not be the future of the game.

"I hope Twenty20 cricket will only be part of the landscape and not the future of the game," the left-arm spinner said after leading his side to a creditable 10-run win over India in a quarterfinal league match of the ICC World Twenty20 Championship at the Wanderers here on Sunday.

"I personally love the more traditional forms of the game, that is Test cricket and ODIs. But we guys have to take this game seriously too," said Vettori, who had not played a single T20 international and a solitary one on the domestic circuit before this tournament.

"It is not easy leading a side in this format of the game because you don't know what you will run into. You might have the best of plans but they may all have to be discarded at the spur of the moment," said the 28-year-old.

"You have to be really thinking on your feet. There is very little time to take decisions with so much happening and it is not as if you have all the time in the world to formulate plans," added Vettori, who felt attack was the best form of defence in this form of the game too.

"The more wickets you take, better the chance for you to peg back the opposition. A couple of sixes and you will suddenly run out of ideas. So, it always helps if you are able to bag some wickets."

Vettori was happy at his team's win after openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had the Kiwis worried despite a challenging 191-run target for the Indians.

"The way they were batting, the match could have gone anywhere. It was one of those days when you could do nothing but wait for the field restrictions to finish after six overs," said Vettori.

"I had a tough time and was at my wits' end," Vettori said after a commendable performance as team leader that saw him make some good bowling changes apart from bagging four crucial scalps with his slow bowling.


"I was trying to change my pace in order to surprise the batsmen. That is what is my strong point and those subtle variations in speed helped me bag some important wickets.

"But we have some bigger challenges ahead and hope to do well there too," he added.

New Zealand are still to play South Africa and England, who are also part of group E. The two top teams will advance to the semifinals of the tournament with no points from the preliminary league being carried over to the ongoing stage.


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