The Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi witnessed a thrilling match between West Indies and Pakistan on 12th November 2008. The West Indies scored 294 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Chris Gayle topscored with 113 runs while Sarwan contributed 55. In reply, Pakistan scored 295 for the loss of 6 wickets in 49.5 overs and snatched victory on the penultimate ball. Khurram Manzoor scored 69, Shoiab Malik added 66 while Younis Khan contributed 56.
West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first. Chris Gayle scored his 17th One day century. However, after his glorious century, West Indies failed to capitalize. After Gayle was dismissed in the 35th over, just 96 runs were added. In the final ten overs, only 71 runs were scored. The Pakistani bowled maintained a good line in the final ten overs on a hard pitch and eventually this phase made all the difference.
The final 15 minutes of this match were very exciting. Jerome Taylor was bowling the 48th over and on its last delivery, Kamran Akmal lifted the ball for a sixer. The 49th over was bowled by Chris Gayle. He bowled a full toss to Fawad Alam which could not be tossed away. Further, while Kamran Akmal was batting, Gayle bowled a no ball. However, Akmal survived a stumping appeal. In this over, just 6 runs were conceded and it appeared that Gayle had sealed the match for the West Indies. Pakistan needed 17 runs from the final over. The second and third deliveries were dispatched by Akmal for sixers. On the fourth delivery, 3 runs were scored by Akmal while Alam scored a single on the penultimate delivery to confirm triumph. Akmal scored 24 runs from 9 deliveries and this knock ultimately proved to be a clincher.