West Indies just did enough to see off Pakistan as they opened their Champions Trophy campaign with a two-wicket Group B win at The Oval on Friday.
Man-of-the-match Kemar Roach had Pakistan reeling at 3-15 and they were all out for 170, boosted by a career-best 96 not out from captain Misbah-ul-Haq and 50 from Nasir Jamshed, the only men to make double figures.
But the West Indies suffered a collapse of their own before tailender Roach hit the winning boundary with more than nine overs remaining.
“I let the ball do the work and got the early wickets for the team,” Roach said at the presentation ceremony.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo added: “Kemar Roach set the tone getting the wicket in the first over.
“Pakistan bowl in the right areas and it was difficult to play against. I am very happy with the win.”
Meanwhile Misbah said Pakistan’s poor start to the match had been decisive.
“I think the plan was to see off the new ball but we did the opposite and lost too many wickets at the top.
“Credit goes to them because they bowled well.
“The (Pakistan) bowlers bowled their heart out…A little bit more effort could have taken us home.”
On the ground where they won the 2004 Champions Trophy, West Indies slumped to 2-15 after giant left-arm quick Mohammad Irfan removed Johnson Charles and Darren Bravo.
Chris Gayle typically drove Irfan, world cricket’s tallest player, for six, only to be bowled for 39 trying to slog off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
The match was in the balance at 4-81 after Ramnaresh Sarwan was caught behind off a rising delivery from left-arm quick Wahab Riaz.
Kieron Pollard, known as a big-hitter, took 18 balls to get off the mark as the West Indies crawled towards victory in front of a crowd of more than 20,000.
But when Pollard was caught behind off Riaz for a 58-ball 30, his side were still 34 runs short of victory.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo, who took 36 balls without a boundary in labouring to 19, was unable to see his side to victory, falling lbw to Ajmal.
Sunil Narine soothed West Indies’ nerves with two fours.
But when he was caught behind off Irfan, West Indies were still six runs adrift before Roach slammed the clinching boundary off Junaid Khan.
Earlier, after Roach’s initial burst, off-spinner Narine took three wickets for three runs in 10 balls.
Misbah survived two close calls off successive balls on nought that, had they gone against him, would have left Pakistan 4-17.
But the 39-year-old went on to surpass his previous ODI best of 93 not out against New Zealand at Napier in 2011.
Pakistan and West Indies are in the same group as India and South Africa, with only the top two sides going through to the semi-finals.
India beat the Proteas by 26 runs in the tournament opener in Cardiff on Thursday.
Pakistan next play South Africa at Edgbaston on June 10 with the West Indies facing India at The Oval on June 11.
