{"id":3441,"date":"2026-05-03T08:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/kingsmen-chase-fairytale-title-zalmi-eye-second-psl-crown\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T08:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:30:49","slug":"kingsmen-chase-fairytale-title-zalmi-eye-second-psl-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/kingsmen-chase-fairytale-title-zalmi-eye-second-psl-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingsmen chase fairytale title, Zalmi eye second PSL crown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n                            <link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/front\/css\/videojs\/css\/video-js.css?i=88888\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"all\"\/>\n    <link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/front\/css\/videojs\/css\/videojs.ads.css\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"all\"\/>\n    <link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/front\/css\/videojs\/css\/videojs.ima.css\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"all\"\/>\n    <link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/front\/css\/videojs\/css\/videojs.socialshare.css\" type=\"text\/css\" media=\"all\"\/>\n<div class=\"medium-insert-images ui-sortable\">\n<figure contenteditable=\"false\">\n    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/uploads\/updates\/2026-05-03\/662650_476606_updates.jpg\" alt=\"Babar Azam (left), captain of Peshawar Zalmi, and\u00a0Marnus Labuschagne, captain of Hyderabad Kingsmen, pose with Pakistan Super League Trophy ahead of edition 11 final, Lahore, May 3, 2025. \u2014 Instagram\/@thepsl\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" class=\"\"\/><figcaption contenteditable=\"true\" class=\"\">Babar Azam (left), captain of Peshawar Zalmi, and\u00a0Marnus Labuschagne, captain of Hyderabad Kingsmen, pose with Pakistan Super League Trophy ahead of edition 11 final, Lahore, May 3, 2025. \u2014 Instagram\/@thepsl\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Kingsmen chase title in debut season.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Zalmi target second PSL crown since 2017.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Babar leads with record-breaking run tally.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"editorHr\"\/>\n<p>Marnus Labuschagne\u2019s Hyderabad Kingsmen are set to face Babar Azam\u2019s Peshawar Zalmi in the final of the  Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 on Sunday night at the Gaddafi Stadium, which will mark the culmination of the 44-match season of the league.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time in the history of the PSL, a separate reward has been set for the franchises with the winning franchise getting $500,000, runners up will get $300,000, while the franchise with the best player development efforts will bag $200,000. The tournament-winning prize for players will comprise $500,000. <\/p>\n<p>Hyderabad Kingsmen will be looking to conclude their fairytale season with the PSL title, while Peshawar Zalmi are eyeing their second title after 2017. Zalmi were the runners-up for 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons.<\/p>\n<p>On the back of Babar\u2019s record 588-run tally, Kusal Mendis\u2019 541 runs and Sufyan Moqim\u2019s 21 wickets, Peshawar Zalmi won eight of their 10 matches in the league stage including a seven-match winning streak.<\/p>\n<p>They outclassed Islamabad United by 70 runs in the Qualifier to secure the ticket for the final.<\/p>\n<p>Express fast bowler Nahid Rana has also rejoined the Peshawar Zalmi squad and will be available for selection.<\/p>\n<p>He picked up seven wickets in four league matches for Zalmi.<\/p>\n<p>Hyderabad Kingsmen began their campaign with three outright losses by 69 runs against Qalandars, by 40 runs versus Gladiators and by six wickets against Sultans.<\/p>\n<p>Their fourth consecutive loss came against Peshawar Zalmi as the two teams played out a last-ball thriller.<\/p>\n<p>Zalmi chased the 146-run target with four wickets in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Kingsmen then won four matches on the trot before falling flat against Islamabad United.<\/p>\n<p>They thumped Rawalpindiz by 108 runs in their last league game to oust defending champions Lahore Qalandars on net run rate.<\/p>\n<p>Kingsmen knocked out Multan Sultans in Eliminator 1 and came from behind to stun Islamabad United by two runs in the Eliminator 2. <\/p>\n<p>At the pre-final captains\u2019 press conference, Babar said: \u201cWe have played really good cricket in the tournament. Our focus has been on assessing the conditions first and then executing the plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe performance of our team this season has been a combined effort of the local and overseas players. We hope to win the trophy by giving our best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Labuschagne, the skipper of the Kingsmen said that leading his side has been really exciting and he\u2019s enjoyed every moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been certainly ups and downs but I think that\u2019s what makes it so good. [it\u2019s] just another game and we will make sure that we stick to our processes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n            let firebaseLoaded = false;\n            function loadFirebaseOnce() {\n              if (firebaseLoaded) return;\n                firebaseLoaded = true;\n                import(\"https:\/\/www.gstatic.com\/firebasejs\/8.10.1\/firebase-app.js\").then(() => {\n                import(\"https:\/\/www.gstatic.com\/firebasejs\/8.10.1\/firebase-analytics.js\");\n                import(\"https:\/\/www.gstatic.com\/firebasejs\/8.10.1\/firebase-messaging.js\").then(() => {\n                  import(\"https:\/\/www.geo.tv\/assets\/front\/js\/push_notification.js?v=1.5111\");\n                });\n              });\n            }\n            window.addEventListener(\"scroll\", loadFirebaseOnce, { once: true });\n            window.addEventListener(\"mousemove\", loadFirebaseOnce, { once: true });\n            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Zalmi target second PSL crown since 2017. Babar leads with record-breaking run tally. Marnus Labuschagne\u2019s Hyderabad Kingsmen are set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesofpakistan.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}