# Karachi Kings–Lahore Qalandars rivalry

The Karachi Kings–Lahore Qalandars rivalry, is a cricket rivalry between two teams in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), an old city rivalry between the cricket teams of Karachi and Lahore that continued in PSL as well. It is considered to be the biggest rivalry in the PSL due to the size of the cities. The rivalry has been fuelled by the size of the two cities that they play for and their historic economic and cultural rivalry. A Karachi–Lahore clash is known typically as a heated contest which "brings out the best in players". The two cities share a rivalry in domestic cricket that dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, with the PSL providing a high-voltage platform that allows it to thrive. It is sometimes also known as the El-Clasico of PSL.
Both teams have played on 14 occasions against each other, with Karachi Kings winning 8 of them. In 2016 season, Kings won both games against Qalandars. While in 2nd season both teams won against each other. Karachi won the first game of the 2018 season, while the second match was a close contest which ended in a tie, in the end Lahore winning in the super over due to excellent super over bowled by Qalandars' Sunil Narine. In the 2019 season, both teams won one game each while in the 2020 season, both teams won one game apiece before facing off in the final which Karachi won by 5 wickets. In 2021, Lahore won the first game in Karachi by 6 wickets while the second game was won by Karachi in Abu Dhabi by 7 runs. In 2022, Lahore won the first game in Karachi by 6 wickets while Karachi won the second game by 22 runs. In the 2023 edition, Karachi once again won both games against Lahore Qalandars by 67 and 86 runs respectively.

## List of PSL titles

| Team | Team | Title(s) | Seasons Won | No. of seasons played |
| | Karachi Kings | 1 | 2020 | 9 |
| | Lahore Qalandars | 2 | 2022, 2023 | 9 |

## Results summary

| | In Karachi | In Lahore | At Neutral Venues | Total |
| Matches | 5 | 3 | 9 | 17 |
| KK Won | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| LQ Won | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |

### Head-to-head ranking in PSL(2016–2023)

| Sns.Pos. | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 1 | | | | | 1 | | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | | | | | 2 | | | |
| 3 | | 3 | 3 | | | | | |
| 4 | 4 | | | 4 | | 4 | | |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | | | | 5 | | 5 |
| 6 | | | 6 | 6 | | | 6 |
* Total: Karachi Kings with 6 higher finishes, Lahore Qalandars with 2 higher finishes (as of the end of the 2023 PSL).
* The biggest difference in positions for Karachi Kings from Lahore Qalandars is 3 places (2018 PSL), The biggest difference in positions for Lahore Qalandars from Karachi Kings is 5 places (2022 PSL).
* Karachi Kings
* Lahore Qalandars

## Players part of both franchises

| Player | Karachi Kings | Lahore Qalandars |
| Cameron Delport | 2020 | 2016–2018 |
| Chris Gayle | 2017 | 2016 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | 2018–2020 | 2016–2017 |
| Bilawal Bhatti | 2016 | 2017 |
| Sohail Khan | 2016–2017; 2019 | 2018 |
| Sohail Tanvir | 2016 | 2017 |
| Aamer Yamin | 2018–2021 | 2016–2017 |
| Mitchell McClenaghan | 2020 | 2018–2019 |
| Usman Shinwari | 2017–2019; 2022 | 2020 |
| Mohammad Irfan | 2018 | 2017 |
| David Wiese | 2018 | 2019– |
| Jaahid Ali | 2019 | 2020 |
| Ben Dunk | 2019 | 2020-2022 |
| Joe Denly | 2018 | 2021 |
| Tom Abell | 2022 | 2021 |

## In popular culture

The rivalry was referenced in episode one ("Stewie's First Word") of season 19 of the American animated sitcom Family Guy. At the start of the episode, Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire and Joe are sitting at the bar, where Quagmire complains about the influx of foreign sports fans on Saturday mornings, "like those Pakistani cricket hooligans". Two Pakistani supporters wearing Lahore jerseys retort: "If you're not rooting for Lahore, please you may leave I can tell you" and "Lahore cricketers are the best and the others are not the best, dear friends". Joe, who is apparently supporting Karachi, quickly covers his jersey as he doesn't "have a death wish about it [his preferred team]".