NEW DELHI: New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell has credited his success on spin-friendly surfaces to the specialised pitch marquee facility at Lincoln, saying the preparation at New Zealand Cricket's training centre helped him adapt to sub-continental conditions.

Just one rating point behind superstar Virat Kohli in the ICC ODI batting rankings, Mitchell has been in scintillating form against India on their home turf. The 34-year-old has registered scores of 130, 134, 84 and an unbeaten 131 in his last four appearances against India.

Mitchell was at his best again in Rajkot on Wednesday, producing a composed 117-ball 131 not out to steer New Zealand to a comfortable seven-wicket victory and level the ODI series.

"There's been plenty, plenty mornings in the marquee down in the South Island in Lincoln on some prepared dusty wickets to try and find ways to come up with game plans in this part of the world," Mitchell told reporters.

"That's the stuff that a lot of people don't see...the work that you put in, away from the shiny lights and the TV, but it's always nice I guess when you get the rewards from that.

"I just love playing for my country, I love travelling the world and playing international cricket and I am very lucky to do that across all three formats," Mitchell added.

The pitch marquee facility at Lincoln allows New Zealand players to replicate tour-specific conditions and continue training even through the winter months, providing a significant advantage in preparing for overseas assignments.

Mitchell, in particular, has thrived in Asian conditions. The 34-year-old has amassed 1,457 ODI runs in the subcontinent at an impressive average of 56.03, including five centuries and six half-centuries.

His record in India is especially outstanding, having scored 801 runs in 15 matches at an average of 66.75, with three hundreds and three fifties. In Pakistan, Mitchell has accumulated 576 runs from 12 ODIs at an average of 48, featuring two centuries and two half-centuries, while he is yet to play an ODI in Sri Lanka.

"(For) us as New Zealanders, we don't grow up on these surfaces, we grow up on bouncy, grassy wickets and the nature of playing international cricket is you have to find ways to adapt your game," he said.

"I'm comfortable with how I want to go about my batting in these conditions, trying to find ways to put the bowlers under pressure. Whether that's using feet, sweep (shot), using the crease, there are different ways that you try and find ways to put pressure on them (opposition)," he said.

"For me, it’s been a learning process over several years now," Mitchell added.

Mitchell praised KL Rahul for his valiant 92-ball 112 not out.

"I thought he balanced the innings, obviously (India) lost a couple of wickets through the middle and the way he soaked up some pressure and then got a score for them at the end, he played really well," he said.

Mitchell laid the platform for New Zealand’s fine chase with a 162-run partnership for the second wicket with Will Young (87).

"I love batting with Youngy, we've done it several times now and we have some good fun. But we also get in the contest and get pretty competitive with the opposition," he said.

"The way Youngy played was brilliant. He soaked up the (pressure against the) new ball which looked challenging. India came seriously hard up top and bowled some good areas, got it moving and he negated that. Then he was able to find ways to keep rotating (the strike) and getting the odd boundary," Mitchell said.

New Zealand’s cause was also aided by poor bowling from Indian spinners, with Kuldeep Yadav (1/82) missing his lengths more often than not. But Mitchell backed the Indian spinners to come good.

"Kuldeep and Jadeja are world class bowlers. They find ways to put pressure on us and they're some of the best spinners going around," he said.

"We were lucky enough to build partnerships and find ways to put pressure on them. I’ve also seen them tear through teams in the past," Mitchell added.

(With PTI Inputs)