CAPE TOWN: India started their Women's T20 World Cup campaign with a thrilling seven-wicket victory against Pakistan on Sunday at Newlands.

Richa Ghosh's 31*(20) and Jemimah Rodrigues' 53*(38) were the heroes with the bat for India along with valuable contributions from Shafali Verma 33(25), Harmnapreet Kaur 16(12) and Yastika Bhatia 17(20).

Chasing the target of 149 runs, Yastiuka Bhatia and Shafali Verma took India to 33/0 at the end of the fifth over.

India lost Bhatia in the last over of the powerplay as she was dismissed by Sadia Iqbal.

Shafali batted confidently before getting dismissed for 33(25) in the 10th over. India were at 67/2 at the halfway mark with batters Harmanpreet Kaur 1(2) and Jemimah Rodrigues 15(14) at the crease.

The batting duo looked set to take the side home but Nashra Sandhu lured Harmanpreet into her signature slog-sweep, but the right-hander was early into the shot, managing an edge to the short third-man.

The arch-rivals sniffed a chance to get back into the game but youngster Richa Ghosh and Rodrigues stitched a match-winning partnership of 58 runs off just 39 balls to secure India's win.

Richa took the charge with Rodrigues playing second fiddle initially. India needed 10 runs each in the last four overs but the duo's heroics sealed the game with an over to spare.

The wicketkeeper batsmen survived a close call in the 16th over after she was adjudged lbw, but DRS showed the ball to have managed an edge onto the glove, giving Richa a reprieve.

She then made the most out of it and played a crucial inning of 31 runs off just 20 balls which was studded with five boundaries.

Rodrigues too came to the fore when needed, clinching a fifty and remaining unbeaten on 53 from 38 balls. She was also named the player of the match for her superb inning.

Nashra Sandhu was the pick of bowlers for Pakistan picking up two wickets for just 15 runs in her four overs.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof played a captain's knock to clinch a half-century while Ayesha Naseem's impactful inning helped Pakistan reach a competitive total of 149 runs.

Ayesha made a quickfire 43 from 25 balls while the skipper played the role of the sheet anchor to remain unbeaten on 68 runs.