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Babar Azam has dismissed claims that captaining Pakistan in all three formats has harmed his batting performance. Babar was named Test captain in November of last year and has scored 124 runs at an average of 20.66 in four matches.

"I think it's important to understand what is captaincy. It's all about on-field encouraging the players, when the bowlers get hit, you have to back them. Back the batsmen when the scores aren't coming," Babar said ahead of the T20I series against West Indies.

"From the time I've become captain, the margin of error is less and the expectations have also increased. I try to perform in every match. Since the time I've become captain, my performances have improved as well. I take it as a challenge. Hopefully, I can carry on and I can improve even more" he added.

In nine ODIs Babar has led Pakistan, he averages 78.25 in comparison to 54.17 when he was in the team just a batsman. In T20Is, Babar has led the side in 24 matches and scored 863 runs at an average of 43.15 and a strike rate of 137.4. In the 33 matches he played as a batsman, Babar made 1290 runs at 49.61 and struck the runs at 126.59.

Pakistan enters the series after losing the ODI and T20I series to England. While the team will look to bounce back, Babar stated that the think-tank wants to experiment with new combinations ahead of the T20 World Cup later this year.

"The aim is to play different combinations in this series and also check our bench strength. The guys have done well in PSL as well. We are going to back them," he pointed out.

"We have played some good cricket against West Indies. We have a very good record against them. We played different cricket in England. Our aim is to play fearless cricket. West Indies have been trying out different combinations. We are also going to do the same."