United vs Kings, 30th Match at Rawalpindi, PSL, May 19 2025 - Match Result

This concludes our coverage of the PSL league stage. The knockout stages begin tomorrow. Thank you for tuning in. See you on May 21 for the Qualifier 1 game. Until then, this is Rashad Mahbub, signing off on behalf of Abdul Shakeel and the rest of the ESPNcricinfo team. Goodnight.

Player of the Match Alex Hales: "It's one of the best places in the world to bat here at Pindi (Rawalpindi). Nice to come off the plane and put in a big performance in a game that was really important for the franchise. It was a really, really big game. As you said, you want two cracks at making the final. And I thought my opening partner (Saibzada Farhan) was very impressive. We put the pressure on them from ball one and made them go to their variations, and I think that made it easy for us to score throughout the innings. Really happy with our partnership and putting on a big score. I think it was assessing (250 target). We know we needed more than 200. I think we had to win by at least 49 runs. I think for them, they're probably easily going to get 150, so we probably knew we needed at least 220, so getting off to that start on the Power Play really set the foundation nicely. It's nice to be back (for Islamabad United), it is a franchise where I have got great memories with, managed to win a few PSLs with them, really happy to be back in the business at the end of the tournament."

David Warner: "We won't look too much at what happened here today. The simple thing is, we will win three games now to win this Championship. And look, we just gotta let this one go. We'll talk about the positives from this match. There weren't probably too many, but we've got a couple of days now where we're gonna try and regroup and get the boys back up and about again. There was nothing about that (Fielding first). It was more about how we could reduce them to a decent total, and then we could chase that. Obviously, things didn't go as planned with the ball. If we could restrict them to 200, then you're chasing 150. In hindsight, it's an easy question to try and ask, but it doesn't matter. I wouldn't want to change my decision. (Chasing the target) For us, it's not about looking over what's on the board. It's about having the intent in the first six (overs) and then trying to take it as deep as we can. The aim of the game is to win the game. So the positive thing is, we're trying to win the game first. But when we got started, sort of around that eight-nine runs over mark, we were trying to establish, and we needed to stay on top of 10 runs an over. And then at the back end, we knew, if we have wickets in hand, you can get those big sort of 60s off the last four. So we just didn't bowl well. We didn't bat well, and we didn't field well. You're not going to win too many games if you don't do that. (Against Lahore Qalandars) It's the same thing. We want to have a good game in all facets. We have to win three. As I said, it starts with Lahore Qalandars, and look, we're pumped. We're up and about. This won't dampen our confidence at all."

11:06 pm Islamabad United won big! This means they finished second in the table and will play in the first playoff game, Qualifier 1. This is also their tenth win in a row against Karachi Kings in the PSL! After losing their last four games, this was a great way for Islamabad to get back to winning. Karachi Kings started their innings cautiously, but not as rapidly as Islamabad did in the Powerplay. Early on, Seifert's catch was dropped, which didn't cost them, though. Later, Irshad bowled a fantastic yorker to get him out. After the dismissal of Seifert and breaking the opening stand, Karachi Kings kept losing wickets, failed to build up partnerships, and it just wasn't their day with the bat or with the ball. The ball kept low on the track and the United bowlers used the pitch brilliantly. Abbas Afridi tried hard at the end, scoring a quickfire cameo of 34 runs off 13 balls, hitting some big shots, but it was too much to catch up. Islamabad United were excellent in all three departments of the game today. Their bowlers, especially the spinners, made it tough for the Karachi Kings batters and took the majority of wickets. Karachi Kings might have missed a trick during their bowling by not using the spinners more, especially the experienced Mohammad Nabi. Shadab Khan was the best bowler for United, taking four wickets. Salman Irshad got three, and Imad Wasim took two. Now, Karachi Kings will have to play against Lahore Qalandars in the Eliminator. Post Match Presentation coming up shortly.

Zain Zaidi: "What a time to comeback! Win first 5 to be in playoff standings. Lose next 4 and then win the last to qualify for the top spot! Great job IU."

Ansar : "Feeling for Lahore as their washed out game against Quetta could have ended up in a win and they would have finished at 2nd position due to better run rate."

Islamabad United won by 79 runs

Alright, folks. 34 runs needed from 12 balls to finish in top 2 for KK. Here's Irshad

Here's Dwarshuis

Umer : "Abbas afridi seems to be on a mission to get KK the top spot "

Salman Irshad in

Saad Mubashar: "I'm a big believer that an over-cautious approach often backfires in T20. They played to chase only 200, and it's hitting them back. Had they went all guns blazing, they would have been better served in my opinion. "

mcool: "Nice one Faraz, I got that, no good memories at all.........."

In the lead-up to the World Test Championship final, ESPNcricinfo, Star Sports and JioHotstar are inviting you to help us pick the greatest Test of the 21st century. In the voting bracket, we now have two Chepauk epics - 2001 versus 2008 and India's fortress breach of Gabba 2021 against Laxman's Mohali heist. What are your picks?

Umer: "What if Aamir Jamal brings some Sydney heroics here "