Mahmudullah: We will step on the field as favourites

Even though Pakistan are former world champions, and are considered as a cricketing powerhouse, Bangladesh allrounder Mahmudullah feels his side will start as favourites when they begin a three-match ODI series on Friday.

Mahmudullah's confidence comes from the fact that the two sides come into the series with different levels of enthusiasm, although both teams went out at the quarterfinal stage of the recent World Cup.

The Tigers see their quarterfinal exit as progression as they knocked England out of the competition, while Pakistan considers their exit, at the hands of eventual winners Australia, as a failure.

The 29 year-old Mahmudullah was Bangladesh's best batsman at the global tournament scoring two consecutive centuries, against England and New Zealand.

The top-order batsman said: "The performance in the world cup will provide us the confidence. In Sha Allah ( If God wills) we will step into the field as favourites.

"We want to win the ODI series first of all. The performance in the world cup proved that we could perform consistently as a team. If we will be able to hold that, we could expect a good result in the end.

"So it is very important for us to make a good start in the first One Day."