Anwar Ali’s match-winning knock against Sri Lanka in the second Twenty20 International is the talk of the cricket world at the moment. He came to the crease when the situation was hopeless and helped his team win the tour finale. This is the first time Anwar has shown his batting skills but certainly not the first time when a Pakistani had turned the match on its head. Let’s take a look at some of the best match-winning knocks by a Pakistani in ODIs.

Javed Miandad vs India -- Sharjah, 1986

In what can easily be termed as the best one day knock of the last century, Javed Miandad successfully hit the final ball of the match for six as Pakistan won a one-day trophy for the first time. The genius from Karachi single-handedly plotted the downfall of the then World Champions India and scored 116 runs out off just 114 deliveries. Chasing 246 runs to win, Pakistan reached the target off the final ball of the grand finale, and the rest is history.

Saleem Malik vs India -- Kolkata, 1987

He was on the verge of being dropped from the Pakistan side because of his bad form but great players perform when the chips are down. Saleem Malik played the knock of his life against India in Kolkata (then Calcutta) after the team was reduced to 172 for 6. Needing more than 6 runs an over to win, Saleem Malik unleashed his genius on the hapless Indians. Not only did he score a half century off 23 deliveries -- something unheard of in those days -- but also ended with 72 not out off just 36 deliveries. Needless to say, when the winning runs were hit, Pakistan still had 2 wickets left and there were 3 balls to spare.

Abdur Razzaq vs South Africa -- Abu Dhabi, 2010

Everything was going in South Africa’s favour -- from winning the toss to scoring 286 runs for the loss of 8 wickets -- they were on top of the match until Abdur Razzaq came into bat at number 7. It took him just 72 deliveries to score an unbeaten 109 with the help of 7 fours and 10 towering sixes. He didn’t get any support from the lower order but that wasn’t required. Pakistan managed to win the match by 1 wicket and Abdur Razzaq managed to carve a place for himself in history.

Shahid Afridi vs West Indies -- Providence, 2013

The all-rounder was on fire against West Indies in the first match of the series at Providence -- he batted and bowled like a champion. At that moment, critics were demanding the selectors not to opt for the former captain who was in their opinion past his prime. But Shahid Afridi is king of comebacks -- he made a return that nobody would be able to forget. Jason Holder’s 4 wickets had reduced Pakistan to 224/9 but not before Shahid Afridi had blasted 76 runs off 55 deliveries. He came back to destroy West Indian batting with 7 wickets for just 12 runs. The hosts were bowled out for just 98 runs and Pakistan began the series on a winning note.

Saeed Anwar vs India -- Chennai, 1997

Not even Saeed Anwar’s biggest supporters would have guessed that the master batsman will go onto post the highest individual score in one-dayers that too against India in a tournament celebrating the Golden Jubilee of their independence. After all, it was a hot and humid day at the venue, Saeed Anwar was making a comeback in the national side and Pakistan was playing arch rivals India at home. It all didn’t matter for the master blaster who hit 22 fours and 5 sixes to reach 194, the most by any batsman in those days. He not only managed to beat the previous record set by Viv Richards of the West Indies and would have made it to 200 had Sourav Ganguly not caught him six short of a double century, off the bowling of Sachin Tendulkar who managed to score the first double century in ODIs more than a decade later. No one else in the Pakistan team managed to reach even 40, and Pakistan eventually won the match by 35 runs despite Rahul Dravid’s heroic century.