PSL 2026: Peshawar thrash Lahore, Hyderabad beat Karachi in Saturday's double-headers

Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026) was full of action for its fans on Saturday, April 11 as the tournament served two riveting games to its fans. In the first match, Peshawar Zalmi beat Lahore Qalandars by 76 runs, while in the second match, Hyderabad Kingsmen beat Karachi Kings by 4 wickets.

After being put in to bat first, Peshawar posted a good score of 173/7 in their allotted 20 overs courtesy of a splendid innings from Kusal Mendis. Peshawar lost their opener Mohammad Haris (18 off 10) early, before Mendis joined captain Babar Azam (43 off 40) in the middle. The duo added a massive 109-run stand off 79 balls for the second wicket, to bring their team into the ascendancy.

However, after their partnership, Peshawar failed to finish their innings well, losing five wickets in the last 19 balls and scoring just 23 runs to finish on 173/7. However, despite that, the total turned out to be enough for the insipid Lahore, who got bundled out for 97 in 17 overs. 

Michael Bracewell and Sufiyan Muqeem (3/21), were the destroyers in chief for Peshawar, scalping three wickets each to set up a massive 76-run win for their side.

Later in the day, Karachi Kings were put in to bat by Hyderabad Kingsmen captain Marnus Labuschagne. The decision was vindicated in the first over itself as Mohammad Ali sent Reeza Hendricks (2 off 4) back into the pavilion. Despite the early blow, Karachi posted a good score (188/8) on the board with Saad Baig leading the way with a half-century, while captain Moeen Ali (44 off 16) also played a fiery innings.

In reply, Hyderabad got off to a brisk start with solid contributions from Labuschagne (26 off 10), Maaz Sadaqat (37 off 29) and Usman Khan (27 off 13), who helped them race to 96/2 in eight overs. Just when Hyderabad were cruising, Karachi triggered a collapse, taking five wickets within a space of 44 balls as Hyderabad only scored 43 runs.

With their team reeling at 139/6 after 15.1 overs, Irfan Khan (29* off 20) joined Hassan Khan (33* off 16) at the crease and the duo got involved in a crucial 50-run stand off just 24 balls. Courtesy of their partnership, Hyderabad chased down the target in 19.1 overs and won by four wickets.

Best Batter of the Match

Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars, Match 19

Best Bowler of the Match

Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars, Match 19

Player of the Match

Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars, Match 19

Kusal Mendis was adjudged Player of the Match for his solid innings of 74 (48), laced with five fours and four sixes. His 109-run stand off 79 balls with Babar Azam brought Peshawar into ascendancy and paved the way for their massive win as Mendis won his second successive Player of the Match award.

Karachi Kings vs Hyderabad Kingsmen, Match 20

Hassan Khan was adjudged Player of the Match for his fiery innings of 33* (16), studded with two fours and as many sixes. He walked to the crease with Hyderabad needing 50 runs to win off 29 balls, having four wickets in hand. However, Hassan’s partnership with Irfan Khan (29* off 20) set up a comfortable victory for his team, with five balls to spare.

What did the captains say:

Peshawar Zalmi vs Lahore Qalandars, Match 19

Winning Captain, Babar Azam (Peshawar Zalmi):

The pitch played differently from the previous game. Lost some momentum but the idea was to not lose wickets. Mendis stepped up and dominated spinners. As long as you're in the middle, you feel good. Played according to the situation. Wanted to rotate strike.

Losing Captain, Shaheen Afridi (Lahore Qalandars):

Was a good decision to bowl. There was a collapse in the batting. Needed a partnership. Will happen in the next game. If the catch was taken, he was on 1 (Kusal). But that's part of cricket.

Karachi Kings vs Hyderabad Kingsmen, Match 20

Winning Captain, Marnus Labuschagne (Hyderabad Kingsmen):

I think the games that we have played the last three, we've put in some good performances and snippets, and tonight we put it together with bat and ball. I think we started really well with the bat. And Hunain Shah, that last over again, unbelievable over to have that last over for four or five. And just the pressure that we created with our thing in the back end was awesome. And then for Hassan to get us over the line with Irfan Khan there at the end was just great for the club and for the team. (What have they done differently today as a team?) I think we just held our nerve at the end there. I think that was a pretty pressured scenario, needing 10s for the last five overs. And Irfan Khan and Hassan just stayed composed. Then let the game come to them. And they took their matchups really well. And I think every game we've tried to make sure we're reading the game and reading the matchups and making sure if we need to shift the batting order, we do that. Or if we need to change some things, we do that to match up as best we can. (On the target they were set) I probably would have liked a little bit less. I think Moeen came out and played a really nice innings, struck at 300 plus. So I would have liked probably a few less. But then as we did say at the toss, we're hoping that if we could quicken it up and the ball could keep on a little bit more at night, it's sort of what happened. I felt like during the day it held a bit more. And then during the night, it skidded off.

Losing Captain, Moeen Ali (Karachi Kings):

(On scoring 188 on that pitch) Yeah, definitely. I thought in the end from where we were we did well to get that score. I think we had a bit of momentum into the bowling, but I think our powerplay bowling was not great. Obviously it started with me, but we fought really well and I think that the positive of tonight is that we did show fight, which we've probably been missing over the last few games. But yeah, I mean, obviously we still lost and it is disappointing. (Having too many bowling options) I don't mind it to be honest with you, but you just go with your gut feel a lot of the time. I back my bowlers. I thought Abbas was outstanding tonight. And yeah, it's great to have those options to be honest with you. I think, but you've got to be also real that not everyone's going to bowl all the time, their full quota of overs. (Did moving from Lahore to Karachi add to the woes?) No, you can have that in the competition. You win three in a row, but it doesn't mean you've automatically going to qualify. We had a break of seven days, which probably wasn't great for our team because we did have a lot of momentum, but there's no excuses. We just got to come back strong and I hope just get the combination right.