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Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was asked this week whether he had seen Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
"No, I have not," Dhoni replied.
He then looked at the questioner and added: "I have not had the time, but if you can make an arrangement I'd love to see it."
As the press conference broke up in a sea of chuckles, and Dhoni headed for the door, someone remarked that it was showing at a Christchurch cinema that night if he fancied a viewing.
Dhoni smiled slowly and quietly said: "Maybe it's a good idea because it will be warm inside."
So much of the talk before last night's opening tour match was about the weather and how the temperatures in New Zealand are likely to be - putting it mildly - rather different to Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, the setting for the celebrated movie.
However, Dhoni was at pains to point out how India are preparing to cope with conditions they rarely encounter on their travels.
"Some of the guys carry four or five kit bags," he quipped, suggesting they are laden with clothing more akin to six weeks in the Southern Alps. "It's about getting used to the conditions. We are taking evening walks and having dinner quite late.
"That helps when you feel it, when you have the air coming on to your face," he said, in a quaint turn of phrase, but you knew what he meant.
And there are no chances being taken with practice sessions.
"The preparation has been good so far. We are putting in more effort. Usually we practice two or two-and-a-half hours," Dhoni said.
"But we have wanted to make the most of it, especially when you are batting outdoors because you never know, the next day may be raining. So we have been practising three-and-a-half to four hours," he added, with words which would be music to the ears of New Zealand selection panel manager Glenn Turner.
Turner is an advocate for batsmen spending as much time in the nets as possible as a preparation tool.
Dhoni's words give more weight to the belief that India are leaving nothing to chance. Last time here, seven years ago, they were well beaten in conditions alien to them.
This time, they are determined to give themselves every chance of making amends.
