Karachi v Lahore, Babar v Shaheen set to enthral fans at NSK tonight

Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars will fight it out for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 title at the National Stadium tonight. The venue has not seen a bigger match than this since Pakistan and India clashed there in an Asia Cup match on July 2, 2008.
Over the past 12 years, NSK has hosted eight ODIs, three Tests and two T20Is but neither has been even close to the one that will be played tonight between two domestic sides, and that, too, behind closed doors.
But such is the cultural, political and media rivalry between the two cities that their matches generate more interest than even some of the national team’s international assignments.
It won’t even matter tonight that the match gets played behind closed doors. It also won’t matter that outside the stadium thousands of commuters will be cursing the traffic jam, for the millions watching home … will be in millions.
Road to the final
By now everyone knows about Lahore’s path to the final. They had won just one of their opening five games and were rooted to the bottom yet again. At that point, their captain insisted that it was not over and was ridiculed for saying that. Days later, his prophesy came true as the Qalandars went on a crazy run, becoming THE form team of the tournament and finishing third on the table.
Karachi’s wins were a bit scattered and their results were devoid of any real pattern. They started the tournament with a win, then lost two, then won two and so on and so forth.
Head-to-head record
Considering Lahore’s troubles over the years, it’s not surprising at all that they have a losing record against Karachi.
Of their 10 meetings, Karachi have won six and Lahore four, with one of their four victories coming by the way of one-over eliminator so if that is taken out, it basically becomes 6-3 in Karachi’s favour.