The Windies arrived in the UAE on Thursday for a full tour against Pakistan and the first challenge will be in Dubai in the first of three T20s on September 23.
It was Brathwaite who hit four sixes against Ben Stokes in the final of the World T20 in India this year to help seal the title for the Caribbean side and the next target for him is a jump from third position in the rankings.
“We are trying to cement ourselves as the world’s number one team, the rankings don’t show it yet. But that is our aim coming over here, to defend what we think is our title as the world’s number one T20 team, and we are giving it out 100 per cent,” Brathwaite said.
The visitors have quite a few newcomers like batsman Rovman Powell and wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran in the side. Brathwaite urged the youngsters to play their natural.
“Go there, express yourselves, continue to be exciting and eventually win games for the West Indies. It’s a big task to represent the West Indies, and away from home is probably a little easier because you don’t have family in the stands with that extra pressure,” the 28-year-old said. “You’re just surrounded by your team-mates and it’s a good team to be in at the moment, so it’s just about going there and continuing to do the things that they did to get themselves here and do it for longer periods – it’s a higher stage, more pressure, but I’m sure they can continue with it and do well.”
