Pakistan inflict more T20 misery on West Indies

Pakistan beat the West Indies in their opening T20 international on Thursday as their spin bowlers inflicted the damage in a 14-run victory to extend a miserable run for the West Indies.

The Pakistani spin specialists halted the West Indies' chase of 179 to ease to a 14-run victory under the lights in Lauderhill, Florida.

Saim Ayub posted a half-century and his teammates produced a steady flow of runs as the West Indies slumped to a sixth T20 defeat in a row, having been whitewashed 5-0 by Australia on home soil earlier in July.

When Jason Holder dismissed Ayub for 57, the West Indies sensed an opening but solid contributions from Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Nawaz and a spectacular six from Mohammad Haris helped Pakistan collect 58 from their last 31 balls.

Pakistan dismantled their opponents' batting order with Mohammad Nawaz removing Johnson Charles and 18-year-old Jewel Andrew — who became the youngest debutant for the West Indies in a T20 international — for 35 runs each.

The sides meet again in Lauderhill on Saturday for the second game of the three-match series before shifting to Tarouba for a three-match one-day international series.

Agence France-Presse