The situation is pretty simple now for the defending champions. After Karachi’s victory over Islamabad United, the Gladiators would need certain things go their way. Kings have already qualified for the semi-finals along with Multan Sultans. 

Quetta needed Lahore to lose against Multan but now they have won, it’s become more difficult for Gladiators to qualify as they would need a big win against Karachi Kings to get the NRR in their favour and pip Peshawar Zalmi to the fourth semifinal spot.

Karachi Kings on the other hand have already qualified for the semi-finals already as they’re sitting at the 2nd spot in the points table with 11 points to their name. 

After whipping the Qalandars with a 10-wicket victory, Kings returned in the same form against the two-time champion Islamabad United in their last match. We saw a dominant bowling show by the Kings as they restricted the red army led by Shadab Khan to a pretty modest total of 136. 

Babar Azam and Sharjeel Khan once again provided the firepower at the top of the order as they reached 60 runs on the board inside five overs. However, Shadab Khan and company pulled things back and took the game to the last over after the batters of Kings were throwing away their wickets regularly. 

Umaid Asif and Chris Jordan were involved in a crucial partnership down the order that saw the Kings get a much needed win and qualify for the semifinals.

Since Jason Roy and Tymal Mills have already left the camp of Quetta, it would be interesting to see how the defending champions shape up their playing XI in a do-or-die match. 

The Karachi Kings would like to rest their key players before they get into the important semi-final. We might see a couple of changes in the playing XI of Karachi Kings as their main players have been playing consistently throughout and the management must be thinking about their fitness levels and fatigue.  

The pitch of the National Stadium was a bit slower in the last match between United and Karachi. The weather was also quite breezy and the fast bowlers will surely enjoy the conditions with some support for the batters as well. 

Karachi Kings Probable Playing XI:
Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam/Awais Zia, Cameron Delport, Umaid Asif, Chadwick Walton (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim (C), Chris Jordan, Usama Mir, Arshad Iqbal, Mohammad Amir

Quetta Gladiators Probable Playing XI:
Khurram Manzoor, Ahsan Ali, Shane Watson, Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C & WK), Azam Khan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain