Napier, March 25: Team India are on a new high having won a Test in New Zealand after three decades. They are playing at a different level, and the captain is in a different zone altogether.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni got philosophical on Wednesday, eve of the second Test against New Zealand here. Asked the reason for the team preferring to spend time (two days) in Auckland rather than at Napier, the Test venue, Dhoni took off at a tangent.

"Mentally we are right there. It depends on what you’re feeding into the mind. The mind doesn’t know (the place). You come and say this is Napier it believes it’s Napier, you say it’s day it believes it’s day ... it’s about how you treat the mind," he said.

The Indian captain was not finished yet.

"If you see it’s (the mind) is an abstract. When people say he’s in form, nobody has seen form. It’s a state of mind where you are confident and you think very positively and believe it’s achievable," he went on.

Dhoni had more on the mind. "One day here one day there doesn’t really make a difference," he said, adding "We’re quite the same. It doesn’t make a difference because we were not supposed to practise on this field. So if you’re practising in Napier on some other field or you’re practising in Auckland, it doesn’t make a difference. So we spent a few more days in Auckland, preparation wise we are up to the mark."

Asked to elaborate on the ‘mind’ game, Dhoni said: "It’s an abstract. It gets very difficult, what exactly I want to say and what will come out in words. It’s more like you want to be in your comfort zone before a big game. You are relaxed, focussed, and create an environment wherein you have the most favourable chances of performing.

"At times we have seen international cricket it’s not only about talent, it’s about how you handle pressure. More often we have seen that the tracks remain the same but because of that extra pressure you see batsmen committing more mistakes."

The skipper put down the success to team spirit. "When we started off in the T20 it was the start of this theory of making it a team more than anything else — enjoying each other’s success and all those formulas coming in. It has been working on us. We have emphasised a lot on it because it’s more about the team than the individual.

"We know the importance of team spirit. It’s not what we are showing off, we truly mean what team spirit is for us.

"It’s very difficult to express in words. When you get into the dressing room and see others happier than you (on your feat) you feel very pleased because that’s what you want to achieve," he said.

The India captain said his team was only focussed on the present and that the results automatically followed. "We think more about the small steps rather than having a long look at what we want to achieve. If you look too long ahead, you get a bit relaxed or maybe you can say you don’t care about those small things that really matter in achieving the big milestone.

"We think about series and we break the series into games. And every game is a different game and we start from scratch," he said.

"For us the next step is Day One of the Test match, and a Test is not decided in one day. We have seen sides losing a game after having a brilliant day. Winning a Test depends on those 15 sessions you have.

"If you win 10 or 12 of them you know you will be the winner. It’s important to be focussed. In India even if you don’t have two good days of Test cricket the match changes every hour on the third and fourth days, so you have good chances of bouncing back. But that’s not the case abroad," Dhoni said.

"Each and every session is crucial. Even if you get four or five wickets in one session you can’t go into the next session with a relaxed mind.

"You have to think about your plans to get the rest of the batsmen out because each and every one can contribute with the bat. That’s what international cricket is all about.

"We have seen lower order batsmen getting big hundreds. That’s one thing that has really helped our side, the partnership with the lower order batsman it mounts and each and every run is important," he added.