Pakistan's spinners stifled
the West Indies batting and limited the hosts to 221-6 off 50 overs before the
trio of right-handers sparked an easy chase.
The visitors motored home to
222-2 with 8.3 overs to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Opener Hafeez, whose off-spin
helped to restrict the home team, gave Pakistan a flying start with seven fours
and a six in 54 off 45 balls.
Misbah and Shafiq then forged
a match-winning association, adding an unbroken 134 off 150 deliveries for the
third wicket.
Misbah, the Pakistan test
skipper, ended 73 not out off 90 balls while Shafiq contributed an unbeaten 61
off 76 deliveries.
Misbah struck seven
boundaries while Shafiq notched five fours and a six.
Legspinner Devendra Bishoo
was the only successful West Indies bowler, grabbing 2-48 from his 10 overs.
Pakistan captain Shahid
Afridi praised his team for a clinical effort.
“The bowlers did a great job,
especially the spinners,” Afridi said. “And the way the openers Ahmed Shehzad
and Mohammad Hafeez started, and after that the partnership between Asad and
Misbah, that was good cricket.
“I'm very confident with the
way Hafeez is contributing in the team. I think he is a real team man and he's
doing a great job with the ball and the bat.” West Indies, batting first on
winning the toss, built its innings around a patient 67 off 109 balls from
Darren Bravo and a late flourish from captain Darren Sammy, who contributed 29
not out off 17 balls.
But it was the spin of Hafeez
(1-36), Saeed Ajmal (1-24) and Afridi (0-40) that squeezed the home team's
scoring.
Hafeez struck first after a
bright start from the Caribbean side's openers, trapping a tentative Devon
Smith leg before wicket at 30-1.
Lendl Simmons and Darren
Bravo were becalmed in a second-wicket stand of 37 in nearly 13 overs before
Ajmal claimed Simmons for 24 to a thin outside edge to the wicketkeeper.
Marlon Samuels fell by the
run out route to leave the innings at the crossroads at 77-3 with nearly half
of their overs gone.
Bravo and Kirk Edwards
rebuilt slowly in a boundary-free stand of 59 off 90 balls.
Edwards eventually pulled to
deep square leg after scoring 28 off 49 balls.
Bravo, who did not have a
boundary in reaching 50, lashed a six and a four soon after but he was the
second run out victim when Sammy called him back for an impossible second.
Sammy took the responsibility
after that and boosted his side to a competitive total by dominating the final
three overs in which 35 runs were scored.
But Pakistan's reply was
launched with a volley of boundaries from Shehzad and eventual man-of-the-match
Hafeez.
The pair added 68 off 76
balls before Bishoo offered some hope by removing both.
Shehzad, who hit four fours
in 22, was stumped by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh while Hafeez chipped a catch
to midwicket.
But that was the last success
for the hosts, as the 36-year-old Misbah and his 25-year-old partner, Shafiq,
produced a victory course.
The second match in the
five-match series is at the same venue on Monday.
