Stephen Bunting says he "fell asleep" to give Poland's Sebastian Bialecki an opportunity to knock him out of the first round at the World Darts Championship.

Bialecki was on the verge of the biggest shock yet at this year's tournament as he roared back from 2-0 down to send the match to a deciding set and led 2-1 in the final set.

However, world No 4 Bunting reeled off three legs in a row to avoid a major surprise but admits he "maybe thought the game was over" after dominating the opening two sets.

"That was not the plan. I felt comfortable. For whatever reason, I fell asleep and to go behind in the match was a travesty, to be honest," said Bunting, who reached the semi-finals of the World Championship last year.

"I felt a bit worthless, but I'm happy to be able to dig myself out of that hole and find a way to win the match. I felt great, I felt in control. To finish with a 96 average, I'm happy, but from 2-0 up to where I finished off is not what I want to do."

Bunting was given a huge ovation by the crowd during his now iconic walk-on and says the fans played a key role in getting him over the line.

"It's not just experience, but the fans. They were exceptional throughout the whole game. 'Let's go Bunting Mental' and 'Walking in a Bunting Wonderland' was sang all the way through," he said.

"For any opponents I play, they will feel the pressure of that, and when things don't come away, I've got the fan base. They are the 12th man. They really helped me through, and they were able to push me on towards the back end of that game.

"I always say the first game is always the hardest in any tournament, whether it's the Worlds, whether it's any tournament, it's always the most difficult. Two years ago, I would have probably lost that game."

Bunting will face India's Nitin Kumar in the second round this Saturday after the qualifier made history by becoming the first player from his country to win a World Darts Championship match.

Kumar, who was described as Alexandra Palace's "new cult hero" by SportsNews Darts' Rod Studd, got huge support from the crowd but Bunting expects the majority of the spectators will still be on his side.

"I'm Stephen Bunting. I'm the people's champion, and they are all going to go Bunting Mental no matter what happens," said Bunting.

"The crowd's unbelievable. I think my YouTube channel's almost at 100,000 subscribers but I'm just a normal person. It's nice to be able to relate to the crowd and give something back to them people that I am normal.

"If that was the case [and the crowd go against me], I'll have to deal with it. But I can't see that happening, to be honest.

"No matter who I play, I played Luke Littler on this stage last year, and had all the crowd on my side. I believe I've got the best fan base in darts.

"I've got the best social media in darts, I've got the best management in darts. I've got the best family in darts. The only thing I'm lacking is the World Championship, and it's coming this year."

The only previous meeting between Bunting and Kumar in January this year at the Bahrain Darts Masters, which Bunting won 6-2 in legs, and says he "loves Kumar to bits".

He said: "Nitin is a fantastic player. What he's done for Indian darts is exceptional. I've known him for quite a few years now, and we played each other in Bahrain. Luckily I was I was able to win that game," said Bunting.

"But the World Championship is so different. I'm really looking forward to playing. He had the crowd on his side in the first round, I'm sure that when we play next week, the crowd will all be going Bunting Mental."

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