On this day in 2010, Umar Gul steered Pakistan to victory against England at The Oval with a career-best bowling spell of 6 for 42. After the defeat in the first two ODIs of the series against England, Gul produced one of the best reverse-swing bowling spells in a must-win match for Pakistan to stay in the series.     

For Pakistan cricket fans, memories of the Pakistan tour of England 2010 are extremely sour. News of the involvement of Pakistan players in spot-fixing shocked the cricketing world. Adding insult to an injury, Pakistan lost the Test series by 3-1 and the T20I series by 2-0. Pakistan also faced defeat in the first two games of the ODI series. The morale of the players was extremely down, with Pakistan on the verge of losing the ODI series.
 
Amidst these immensely difficult times, the Pakistan team stepped out in the middle in The Oval to play the third match. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. They put on a total of 241 runs, thanks to Fawad Alam and Asad Shafiq, who accumulated 64 and 40 runs respectively. Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan skipper, and Abdul Razzaq contributed with quick-fire contributions to help the tourists reach a competitive score.
 
The England openers began the chase confidently with Steven Davies hitting Shoaib Akhtar for consecutive boundaries. However, Pakistan came back and England lost five wickets for 103 runs only.

 

It was then that English captain Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan started the rebuilding process and took England to 201. With only 41 runs to get in 12 overs, England looked the firm favourites to win the match and attain an unassailable lead in the series.

 

In this scenario, Gul sprang to action to bowl his last spell and took the game away from England. The hosts could manage to add only 17 runs as they lost the remaining five wickets. Gul took his career-best six wickets for 42 runs only, with four wickets in his last spell of three overs, strengthening his reputation as one of the best exponents of reverse swing.