KARACHI: 2020 champions Karachi Kings crashed out of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 after Lahore Qalandars beat leaders Peshawar Zalmi in match 38 of the eight-team tournament at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Saturday.
Qalandars’ 6-wicket win over Zalmi took their tally to 10 points from 10 matches and lifted them to fourth spot, overtaking arch-rivals Kings, who finished with more points but a lower net run rate.
The Kings, who defeated the previous edition’s runners-up Quetta Gladiators in the previous league-level match, needed the Qalandars and Hyderabad Kingsmen to lose their finals against Zalmi and Rawalpindi respectively as they had the worst net run ratio among the three rivals.
But the defending champions’ win over Zalmi means the Kings are no longer in contention for a top-four finish.
Meanwhile, the fourth team to seal the coveted playoff spot will now be decided after the Kingsmen’s match against the Bindis at the National Bank Stadium on Sunday.
The currently fourth-placed Qalandars will want the Kingsmen to lose the race to qualify for the playoffs, while the debutants need to beat the Bindis by a sizeable margin to take their points tally to 10 and overtake the defending champions on net run rate.
It marked the fourth time Karachi Kings failed to qualify for the playoffs since the inception of the marquee league in 2016.
Previously, they had failed to finish in the top four in three consecutive editions from 2022 to 2024.