McCullum believes underdogs, favourites tags 'irrelevant' during CWC

New Zealand cricket team captain Brendon McCullum insisted that once the game starts it is all irrelevant whether one goes into the tournament as underdogs, dark horses or favourites, before their Cricket World Cup campaign got underway on Saturday with their opener against Sri Lanka.

McCullum's team faced Sri Lanka at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday in front of 18,500 spectators. The hosts posted a 332 run target for Sri Lanka to beat them, but the tourists were bowled out for 233 runs, with McCullum's team wining the match by 98 runs.

New Zealand started their co-hosted tournament in unprecedented form and were confidently tipped among the top-three with Australia and South Africa, although one question-mark is never having made a final in 10 attempts, Stuff.co.nz reported.

McCullum said that whether one goes into a tournament as underdogs, dark horses or favourites, it's all irrelevant once the game starts, but he added that it drums up energy, anticipation and expectation, and that's great.

The skipper said that once the game actually starts it's about the event in its purest form, insisting that the mentality his side has got is that they know what works for them. He claimed that they know what they need to do to achieve their best game, and added that if someone else is good enough to beat his side, so be it, as that is all they can worry about.