Pakistan women team opened their Twenty20 World Cup campaign in style as they thrashed former world champion and one of favourites West Indies by eight wickets Wednesday.

Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof remained unbeaten on 39 off 37 balls hitting four boundaries and Nida Dar was not on 18 off 20 balls when Pakistan achieved the target of 125 for the loss of two wickets.

Pakistan openers Muneeba Ali and Javeria Khan also proved a solid start to the team as they scored 58 runs in 7.2 overs when Stefanie Taylor broke the partnership with an LBW decision against Javeria. Javeria was fluent in her innings and flexed her muscles ably as she scored 35 runs off 28 balls hitting six boundaries.

Muneeba was the second wicket to fell when Anissa Mohammed took her catch off Afy Fletcher delivery as Pakistan were reduced to 77-2 in 11.5 overs. Muneeba scored 25 off 26 balls hitting three fours.

After that captain Misbah and Nida played sensible cricket and took Pakistan home without any further damage as Pakistan reached 127-2 in 17.5 overs.

Bismah played a cautious innings as half of her runs came with a strike rate of 50 but she ramped up the pace in the last 17 balls to finish at better than a run a ball.

Earlier, a discipline bowling from Pakistan bowlers restricted West Indies to 124-7 in allotted overs. Pacer Diana Baig and spinner Nida Dar took out the top order of the West Indies early to keep them under check. Diana finished with 2-19 in four overs while Nida took 2-30 in her overs quota. Aiman Anwar was also bowled well for her 2-32 while Anam Amin was very economical with 1-19 figures.

For West Indies, captain Stefanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbell both scored 43 runs each to take their team’s score to some respectability.

Pakistan’s Javeria Khan was named Player of the Match for her 35 off 28 that boosted Pakistan at the start of the chase setting up a famous win, their highest successful chase against West Indies: "I am really surprised that I got this award. I think more than me, Diana deserves it because she gave us the start which we never expected and I think she deserved it. It was a total team effort. I am pleased the way Nida and Bismah handled the pressure and finished it off. We have worked over the past few years on our fielding, running between the wickets and shot selection. We have worked hard and it paid off today. Under the lights, it was good to bat. My aim was to charge because sometimes it gets tough so I thought of taking charge and give ample amount of time to the middle order so they can take their time."

Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof said it was a great win to get momentum for us in the World Cup.

“We picked wickets at crucial times when we needed it and restricted them. The wickets put them under pressure. It was great and how our openers played, credit to them. We as a team know we are smart cricketers and we need to stay with what our strengths are. Nida just stayed in the middle with me to rotate the strike and stay to the end. We needed momentum and I think this win will boost our team."

West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor was unhappy with the performance with the bat.

"When you look at the type of batters we have, I reckon we should be scoring over 150 and so far we haven't been doing that. Batters need to be accountable and take that responsibility. We spoke about the first six and how hard we want to go and having that belief and rotating the strike. I think those are combinations where we are lacking and if you see today it was really hard to build a partnerships. It was nice for Shemaine and I to get that total on the board but we keep losing early wickets and we just couldn't propel. I think the bowling has been terrific. The pacers have been really good, not to take anything away from the Pakistanis. They played terrific. But there is room for improvement. As batters we need to come out and show our prowess."