West Indies’ Nikita Miller steals a single as Pakistan’s Umer Akmal attempts a catch during the Champions Trophy match at the Wanderers on Wednesday. (AFP)

Johannesburg: Pakistan overcame a jittery start to defeat the West Indies by five wickets in their opening match of the Champions Trophy here on Wednesday.

After losing both the openers — Imran Nazir and Kamran Akmal — cheaply, the World T20 champions struggled initially in front of some inspired bowling by Windies pacer Gavin Tonge.

Tonge, who bombarded the Pakistan batsmen with some aggressive fast bowling, finished with figures of four for 25 in his 10 overs.

But his effort was not enough to stop Pakistan from clinching the match as youngster Umar Akmal and stand-in skipper Shahid Afridi shared a 58-run sixth wicket partnership to see the side through in 30.3 overs.

Umar, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, was the top scorer for Pakistan with 41 runs which included six hits to the boundary.

Earlier, Pakistani pace duo of Mohammed Amir and Umar Gul ran havoc, bowling out a depleted West Indies side for a paltry 133 in 33.4 overs.

The Wanderers pitch, unlike the flat surface in Centurion, always offered the pacemen some assistance and that was aptly reflected from the exploits of the faster bowlers of both the sides.

The professionals stuck to the basics: Mohammed Amir found a bit of seam movement, Naved-ul Hasan swung it gently and varied his pace, and Umar Gul hit the deck hard to apply the chokehold.

Electing to bat, a rag-tag West Indies side had a terrible start to their innings, losing both their openers with the scorecard reading 11 after 3.6 overs.

The inexperienced West Indies batting line-up never seemed in a position to counter the fiery Pakistan bowling attack as youngster Amir, ex-Indian Cricket League player Naved-ul Hasan and Gul ripped through the Windies resistance.

Left-arm pacer Amir struck as early as in the final ball of the opening over, getting Dale Richards (1) caught and bowled off his own bowling and then Naved-ul Hasan got the better of Andre Fletcher (7) caught by Imran Nazir with West Indies reeling at 11 for two.

Travis Dowlin was the next man to depart without opening his account, edging one to Kamran off the bowling of Amir.

Devon Smith (18) and captain Floyd Reifer (7) did try to put up some resistance, adding 22 runs for the fifth wicket before Reifer was caught by Misbah-ul Haq off Gul in the 15th over.

After the initial hiccup, the West Indies batsmen never got their footing into the match, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Darren Sammy (25) and Nikita Miller (51) tried their best to get the West Indies innings back on track, adding 38 precious runs for the eighth wicket.

But their efforts were short-lived as off-spinner Saeed Ajmal struck in his first over, dismantling the stumps of Sammy.

Miller and Tino Best put on 36 runs for the ninth wicket to lend some respectability to the West Indies score before Best was stumped by Kamran off the bowling of Ajmal.

Miller was the last to depart going for a big hit over the long-on boundary off Afridi, only to find Shoaib Malik. His innings off 57 deliveries included six fours and one six.