After suffering a crushing 49-run loss against Islamabad United at Karachi on Saturday, Lahore Qalandars’ hopes of a 2019 Pakistan Super League (PSL) play-off berth hand by bare thread.
With that commanding win in the first match of the Pakistan leg of the tournament, defending champions Islamabad United have joined Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi in the play-offs.
There were still two play-off spots up for grabs before the start of the Pakistan leg but Islamabad’s victory has ensured that there is just the one more still open.
With Multan Sultans already ruled out of the running, the battle for the last play-off spot is now a two-horse race between Karachi Kings and Lahore. It is a race that the latter are currently losing by some distance.
With this win @IsbUnited has secured its place in play-offs. @lahoreqalandars are still not out of the race. LQ needs @TeamQuetta to beat @KarachiKingsARY on Sunday, then beat @MultanSultans by heavy margin & then pray for @PeshawarZalmi’s success against Karachi Kings on Monday.
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) March 9, 2019
After playing nine league fixtures, Lahore have just three wins and six points to show. The Qalandars currently trail Karachi by two points with the Kings having two fixtures remaining compared to the one for Lahore. To make matters worse for Lahore, their net run-rate is currently inferior to Karachi as well.
As such, Lahore have to win their last league fixture against Multan Sultans at any cost, and by a handsome margin to boot, to stand any chance of making the top-four.
Karachi, on the other hand, have to face an already qualified Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi in their final two league clashes.
Imad Wasim and his men just need the one win from their two games to book their play-off spot with their fate well and truly in their own hands. The Kings could even leapfrog Peshawar into second place but for that to happen, they will need to win both their remaining clashes by huge margins to offset the deficit in net run-rate between the two sides.
For now, the play-off berth is Karachi’s to lose with Lahore currently living on a prayer.
