#PSL 2026 — The Drama Continues 🏏🔥: 03/05/26

4 days ago

Peace be upon you all ✨🌟

Warm greetings to everyone.🤍🌸

I hope you are all doing well, staying healthy, motivated, and full of positive energy, and your days are full of joy, peace, and little moments that make you smile. 🌟✨🌟

PSL 2026 Is Getting Wild — Here Is Everything That Happened From 24 April Onwards 🏏🔥

I have been following PSL 2026 closely and honestly this tournament has been absolutely crazy. Every time you think it is settling down, something unexpected happens. In my last post I covered everything up to 23 April. Today I am picking up from where I left off and taking you through the final group games, the playoffs, and the final that is happening tonight.

Let me break it all down in a simple way.

The Final Group Stage Matches

Match 36 — Hyderabad Kingsmen vs Islamabad United

24 April | National Bank Stadium, Karachi

Islamabad United won the toss and chose to bowl first. What happened next was one of the most one-sided innings I have seen this season.

Richard Gleeson, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim shared nine wickets between them as Hyderabad Kingsmen were bowled out for just 80 runs in 15.5 overs — the fifth-lowest total in PSL history. The Kingsmen could not handle the pace and spin combination at all. They just kept losing wickets.

The chase was so easy it was almost embarrassing. Islamabad reached the target in just 6.4 overs. Mohsin Riaz smashed an unbeaten 42 off 18 balls and Sameer Minhas scored 27. Islamabad United won by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match — Richard Gleeson — 3 wickets for just 9 runs in 3 overs. Brilliant spell.

Match 37 — Karachi Kings vs Quetta Gladiators

25 April | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Quetta Gladiators batted first and posted 195/6 in 20 overs. Karachi Kings chased it down with 9 wickets in hand, finishing at 199/1 in 18.3 overs. David Warner and Reeza Hendricks opened and just smashed everything. Karachi made it look simple. A big win that kept their small playoff hope alive for a little longer.

Man of the Match — David Warner — aggressive knock at the top of the order.

Match 38 — Lahore Qalandars vs Peshawar Zalmi

25 April | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

This was a huge match. Lahore desperately needed a win to stay in the playoff race. And for the first time all season, Peshawar Zalmi lost a match.

Lahore Qalandars posted 200/4 and restricted Peshawar Zalmi to 199/4 in 20 overs, winning by 6 wickets. Michael Bracewell scored 83 for Peshawar but it was not enough. Fakhar Zaman was brilliant for Lahore at the top. Lahore fans finally had something to celebrate.

Man of the Match — Fakhar Zaman — kept Lahore's innings together under pressure.

Match 39 — Hyderabad Kingsmen vs Rawalpindiz

26 April | National Bank Stadium, Karachi

After that heavy loss to Islamabad, Hyderabad came back and absolutely destroyed Rawalpindiz.

Glenn Maxwell and Kusal Perera hit fifties to take Hyderabad to 244/6 and then Hunain Shah took four wickets to bowl out Rawalpindiz for just 136. Hyderabad won by 108 runs. A massive statement win right before the playoffs.

Man of the Match — Glenn Maxwell — powerful half century that set up a huge total.

Match 40 — Islamabad United vs Multan Sultans

26 April | National Bank Stadium, Karachi

The last group game of the season and one of the most important. Both teams needed to perform well because second place on the table was still up for grabs.

Multan Sultans batted first and posted 192/7 in 20 overs. Shan Masood scored 44 off 33 balls. Islamabad United chased it down in 18.4 overs, reaching 193/6. Mark Chapman was outstanding — an unbeaten 69 off just 33 balls with six sixes and four boundaries. Shadab Khan also contributed 36 off 28 to keep the chase on track.

Islamabad United finished second on the table with this win, pushing Multan Sultans to third.

Man of the Match — Mark Chapman — took the game away from Multan with that innings.

Who Made the Playoffs and Who Did Not

✅ Teams That Qualified

Peshawar Zalmi finished first with 17 points. The best team of the tournament all season. Babar Azam scored 485 runs in 9 innings at a strike rate of 141 and Sufiyan Muqeem was the top wicket taker of the season with 19 scalps at an economy of just 7.47. A complete team in every department.

Islamabad United finished second with 14 points. Consistent, experienced and dangerous. Shadab Khan led well throughout.

Multan Sultans finished third. A good season overall but they ran out of steam when it mattered most.

Hyderabad Kingsmen finished fourth. And what a story. A brand new team that lost their first four matches and then somehow turned everything around. Nobody saw this coming.

❌ Teams That Did Not Qualify

Lahore Qalandars — the defending champions went home in the group stage. That is hard to say but it is the truth. The defending champions were eliminated during the league stage itself. Shaheen Afridi gave everything with the ball but the batting was not consistent enough. A really disappointing season for Lahore fans after winning it all last year.

Karachi Kings — this one was painful to watch. Karachi played some brilliant cricket in the second half of the season. They beat Lahore. They beat Quetta. They kept fighting till the very end. But they needed other results to go their way and that never happened. Karachi Kings needed both Kingsmen and Qalandars to lose their last league games and that scenario did not come together. A heartbreaking exit for one of PSL's most supported franchises. The talent was always there but the early losses cost them too much.

Quetta Gladiators — another season to forget. Finished seventh. Once the most feared team in PSL, they are still waiting to rediscover that form.

Rawalpindiz — the brand new team. Only one win all season but it was their first ever PSL campaign. They will learn a lot from this and come back stronger.

The Playoffs

Qualifier — Peshawar Zalmi vs Islamabad United

28 April | National Bank Stadium, Karachi

Islamabad United won the toss and asked Zalmi to bat. It turned out to be one of the better batting performances of the entire tournament.

Mohammad Haris set the tempo with a blazing 35 off just 16 balls. Then Babar Azam took over — he anchored the innings with a brilliant 103 off 59 deliveries including 12 boundaries and 4 sixes. Babar and Kusal Mendis added 84 runs together for the second wicket. Mendis made 41 off 26 balls. Shadab Khan got two wickets in one over to cause a small wobble but Babar kept going. Aaron Hardie added late runs and Zalmi finished on 221/7.

Chasing 222, United began aggressively. Devon Conway and Sameer Minhas raced to 50 in under four overs. But then Aaron Hardie and Sufiyan Muqeem took control. They triggered a collapse — six wickets fell in 28 balls and United were all out for 151.

Peshawar Zalmi won by 70 runs and went straight into the final.

Man of the Match — Babar Azam — 103 off 59 balls. His fourth PSL hundred. The innings that booked Zalmi's spot in the final.

Eliminator 1 — Multan Sultans vs Hyderabad Kingsmen

29 April | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Win or go home. And Multan Sultans went home.

After being asked to bat first, Multan collapsed to 52/5 in the 8th over. Captain Shan Masood saved them with a brilliant lone warrior innings of 69 off 46 balls including 4 fours and 4 sixes to take them to 159/9. It was a decent recovery but probably not enough on a good batting surface.

The Kingsmen chase was devastatingly efficient. After losing captain Labuschagne early, Usman Khan and Maaz Sadaqat took complete control. Usman smashed 64 off 35 balls and Sadaqat was unbeaten on 64 off 33 as Kingsmen reached the target in just 15.2 overs — winning by 8 wickets with 28 balls to spare.

Multan Sultans are eliminated. Hyderabad Kingsmen march on.

Man of the Match — Maaz Sadaqat — 64 not out in a knockout game. Completely calm under pressure.

Eliminator 2 — Islamabad United vs Hyderabad Kingsmen

1 May | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

I genuinely do not know how to describe this match. It was one of the best T20 games I have ever followed. It came down to the very last ball.

Shadab Khan won the toss and sent Kingsmen in to bat. The Kingsmen were struggling at 85/4 in 11.4 overs before Usman Khan and Kusal Perera put on 101 runs together off just 50 balls. Usman finished unbeaten on 61 off 30 balls and Perera made 37 off 21. Kingsmen posted 186/5.

The United chase started terribly. Sameer Minhas and Mohsin Riaz were both out inside three overs with just 15 on the board. Devon Conway made 30 but Islamabad slipped to 68/4. Then Mark Chapman and Haider Ali put on 64 runs together and dragged United back into the game.

Then Faheem Ashraf and Chris Green smashed 22 runs off the 19th over and suddenly United needed just six runs from the final over. It looked like Kingsmen were done.

Then Hunain Shah did something incredible. He conceded only three runs in that final over — starting with a dot ball and then bowling five consecutive yorkers. The third yorker got Faheem Ashraf out. United needed four off the last ball and got only a leg bye. Hyderabad Kingsmen won by 2 runs.

It was the lowest target successfully defended in the last over in PSL history — just six runs defended.

Islamabad United are eliminated. Hyderabad Kingsmen are in the final.

Man of the Match — Hunain Shah — 2/37 and the greatest last over of PSL 2026. His brother Naseem Shah would be so proud.

🏆 THE FINAL — Peshawar Zalmi vs Hyderabad Kingsmen

3 May | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 8:00 PM PKT

The final is happening tonight. And I'm already thinking about it.

On one side you have Peshawar Zalmi, the best team of the tournament. Babar Azam leads them having amassed 588 runs in 10 innings at an average of 84 and a strike rate of 146.27. Sufiyan Muqeem leads the wicket taking charts. They have looked unbeatable for most of this season.

On the other side you have Hyderabad Kingsmen, a team playing their very first PSL season. They lost four matches in a row at the start. Most people wrote them off. Then they won seven of their last eight. They beat Multan by 8 wickets. They beat Islamabad by 2 runs in one of the greatest finishes this tournament has seen.

Zalmi are the clear favourites. But this Kingsmen team does not seem to know when they are supposed to lose.

Warm Invitation — Join WE ARE ALIVE Community Activities

I’m hosting the Monday and Tuesday activities on @alive.chat.

🔹 Alive Chat Monday Challenge – Share your Goals and Progress

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I warmly invite everyone to join these activities, stay active, connect with the WE ARE ALIVE community, and get a chance to win prizes 🎁

That’s all for today!
Thank you so much for your continued support 💚❤️🙏
I wish you all a wonderfully amazing day, full of happiness, blessings, prosperity, positivity, and success. 🌈✨
Stay blessed, stay healthy, and keep thriving 💪🔥
I will post the final update once the match is done. Until than, keep shining ✨😊