Papua New Guinea's cricketers are more than happy to accept the favourites tag at the East Asia Pacific Men's Twenty20 Trophy in Lismore.
The Barramundi's began their title defence with a crushing eight wicket victory against the Cook Islands and 22 run win over Fiji and continue against Indonesia and the Philippines on Thursday.
Vanuatu and Samoa also picked up two wins on the first day of competition and PNG assistant coach Rarua Dikana says they're used to other teams viewing them as a target.
"We came into the tournament expecting teams like Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu gunning for our head and we're not going to take that lightly. We're going to keep on performing to our best as we have been doing for the last couple of months and I think we will be confident enough to retain our title".
The top-ranked team after the seven-match round-robin will qualify for next year's ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Scotland and Ireland.
