Never has a team qualified for the playoffs in the PSL after losing their first four matches. But Hyderabad Kingsmen have staged such a magnificent comeback that they have not only won both the eliminators but will take on Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL 2026 final at the Gaddafi Stadium on May 3. That it has happened in their first season of the tournament and under a captain who had no experience of leading a T20 side prior makes it more sensational. ESPNcricinfo sat with Marnus Labuschagne, the Kingsmen captain, on the eve of the final to talk about his team’s exceptional turnaround.
You were lost for words at the presentation ceremony after your side’s incredible win against Islamabad United. Can you now describe how you feel about last night’s game?
The story of what we have been able to create as a team has been so special. Nothing good comes easy. The squad that we put together probably looked a little bit interesting on paper and then we had [first] four games [which Kingsmen lost] where we were trying to get to know the team and understand how to construct our line-up.
We found that balance and momentum five games in. We had players coming into form and some losing theirs a little bit. It has been a journey.
It was an emotional roller coaster last night – from going, okay, they need 40 off 20, and then to six off the last over after that big over off Mohammad Ali, which went for 20 [22]. You are kind of going like can we [defend it?]. Then the umpires inform you that you can have only four fielders outside the circle for being behind the time.
It became pretty simple. I just said to Hunain Shah that ‘it is six straight yorkers at the stumps. We are going to have the field straightened and see if we can do it.’
The first ball, which we had spoken a lot about, was a dot and it started building a little bit the next ball, and then another dot, and then a wicket. All of a sudden, you are like ‘geez’. I remember [before] that second ball to Faheem [Ashraf], I was thinking ‘this could get interesting if we get a wicket here’, as it would bring a new batter on strike with five needed off the last two balls.
He bowled a perfect ball, a straight yorker, and [Faheem was] caught by Hassan Khan. For Hunain Shah to bowl that final over which went for three is just incredible. It has been awesome to be part of the journey, be able to lead the team, and play a part in what has been an amazing season.
Did the wicket of Faheem make you feel that you were ahead of Islamabad United?
I don’t think you ever feel ahead with five runs. Four off the last ball felt like ‘geez, okay, if he bowls a nice ball straight here with this field, where we have everyone in the right spot, and if he lands the ball near where he is trying to or bowl a full yorker, it would be two runs at best’.
That [the last ball] was the moment where I felt we are going to do it. Then that stop from Mohammad Ali [at backward point] on the second-last ball. It has just been incredible the amount of games we have had that have been so up and down.
You come back to that game against Rawalpindiz when we needed to win by 85 runs to sneak into the final. We were probably favourites to make it to the third or fourth spot with two rounds to go in the competition and then we had a horrific loss against Islamabad that tanked our net run-rate. We put ourselves in an almost impossible position, but we found a way to win. It [the ups and downs] has just been a story of our season.
You were particularly charged after Hunain nailed that yorker. You were sprinting around the ground and screaming your lungs off. Could you take us in that moment?
Not really because I can’t really recall it.
I have had a few people message me asking what was saying, as they thought I was spraying the opposition. But, I don’t really know what I was saying. I was just overawed with emotion after what had been such an up-and-down sort of an afternoon.
At one stage, it felt as if we were not going to cruise home and then it felt we were going to win it relatively comfortably. But [Mark] Chapman played beautifully and got them back in the game and Haider Ali played a lovely innings as well.
I was running to find Hunain Shah as I was far away. My hat was coming off so I took it off while sprinting. I do not even know where my hat is. I have lost it and it was not even my hat because I had left mine in the room. So, I have lost someone else’s hat.
I was trying to find Hunain Shah, but there were so many people running on the ground, because of which I could not find him. I saw a big pile of people and I was like, ‘that’s probably where he is’, and then I just ran and jumped on top of the big huddle.
I have always said that in such moments you go with what you feel. I am not someone who necessarily comes up with celebrations or think about what am I going to do. Whenever I look back at such moments, I wish I had stayed nice and calm but that is just not the kind of person I am. I get fully sucked by the moment and go all out.
That is pretty much to sum it up.
It has been quite an epic turnaround for Hyderabad Kingsman as no team has ever qualified for the playoffs, let alone play the final, after losing their first four games in the PSL. How have you pulled it off?
It is a collective effort, primarily. The coaching staff and I were trying to work out what’s our best line-up and how and where we fit our players in the first part. You have an idea of how it is going to work when you put a team together. But, at times, it doesn’t turn out how you were expecting it to.
“My hat was coming off so I took it off while sprinting. I do not even know where my hat is. I have lost it and it was not even my hat because I had left mine in the room. So, I have lost someone else’s hat”
Labuschagne on the chaos after the Eliminator victory
You would have seen we made the changes in the batting order and shifted things around to put [together] a team that is harder to play against. Those shifts brought us some success which has been great for us as a team. It is just getting to know your players individually and continuing to build relationships that help you to understand their game better and how you get the best out of them.
I have played in many different teams, not necessarily T20 teams. It is just a real sense that there’s nobody bigger than the team. Everyone is willing to do their part by understanding their role. Like KP’s [Kusal Perera] innings last night – he played that role and kept giving strike to Usman Khan who played his role beautifully with 60 [61 not out] off 30 and then came into his own in the last two overs and got 37 off 21.
There’s no individual bigger than the team. That’s what we have learnt as the tournament has gone on.
You have mentioned Usman Khan’s and Kusal Perera’s performances from last night. We have seen you score half-centuries over the course of this tournament. Maaz Sadaqat has stepped up. Saim Ayub looked in a fine touch last night. Mohammad Ali and Hunain Shah have also been chipping in. But there has not been a consolidated performance from Kingsmen as a team. Does it worry you entering the final?
We got 244 against Rawalpindi and bowled them out for 120 or 130. I don’t think you would get a better performance than that.
But, in what you are saying, I think that actually makes us a more dangerous team as we have been able to find a way to come together as a team with different guys stepping up. It is exciting to go into a final – by winning seven out of 12 – and we have not put together our best performance yet, which gives us confidence as a team because we are [still] finding a way to win games.
The turning point of the season was our loss to Zalmi. We were down on confidence and did not really know if we could compete in this competition. But that game showed us that we can. We lost four wickets in the powerplay and I think KP got 60 off 30 [58 off 35] and played beautifully. We then lost another three wickets for none in the same over and ended up with 144. Hunain Shah almost defended 14 in the last over.
We were like, ‘we have played a pretty bad game here and almost won it’. And that was the turning point where I was like we don’t need to be at our best [as a team] to win the games, rather we can find a way to win games, and from that point that’s pretty much what we have done for the rest of the tournament.
But after four straight defeats, your dressing-room must have been dejected. How did you make sure that it stayed positive and kept believing that this team can go the distance?
From the captain and coaching-staff point of view, it was just about instilling the faith in the team and trying to take positives out of each game. All we were telling the group was just to keep believing in their skills and trusting the process.
The theme throughout the tournament has been to keep believing in the players. When we were up or down, there was so much faith being instilled in the players from the ownership which gave them confidence. Jason Gillespie and I tried to create an environment for the players to flourish, grow, and make sure the group was learning and not making the same mistakes.
But there was also a reset. You made some tactical changes after that match. You went up the order and pushed Saim Ayub down. Akif Javed came back in the team and Glenn Maxwell came in the XI.
Having two left-handers at the top in Karachi, where the ball was holding a bit more, gave the opposition an opportunity to bowl two to three overs of offspin at us in the powerplay. So we started with the right-left combination at the top to make sure we don’t give any team an easy option to have a go at us in the powerplay.
I think Moeen Ali bowled the first over and it went for 18 in the first game. We made the change and that was pretty much the start of just getting things clicking. It gave me an opportunity to take on the powerplay and get myself in the game, and then be able to read and play depending on what was needed after it.
And Akif’s return helped stitch an effective fast-bowling unit. Your fast bowlers looked light on T20 experience before the season, but they have taken the most wickets together this season.
It’s amazing what happens when you instill belief in guys, and that’s not me, that’s the ownership that had belief in Mohammad Ali, Hunain Shah, Akif Javid, and Asif. They had the trust and the belief that these guys were the bowlers that they wanted and they looked beyond probably what everyone else looked.
The announcement of your own direct signing was also quite interesting as you are not a regular on the T20 circuit. You played only one T20 game in 2025. How did the signing take place?
They probably saw something in me beyond what others were looking at and that is obviously how it came about. They wanted me to lead the side. I was excited to be leading the side and playing the PSL. I looked at it as a great opportunity for me to grow as a leader, be able to experience a different environment, and it allowed me to help a younger generation of players. It also presented me an opportunity to grow my T20 game, which I have not been able to play much because of my one-day and Test commitments.
I knew if I got a little bit of rhythm I would learn and keep growing as a player, and that is how my tournament has gone. I started slow, picked up through the middle and lost a bit of rhythm. Then last night I got going a little bit.
But, there are still a lot of things that I want to keep developing and improving in this format.
Could you expand on what you want to develop more in this format?
It is understanding different scenarios because, when you are playing a lot of Test and one-day cricket, you play quite a risk-averse game. But in T20 you have to let that go and trust your skill and yourself to clear the rope at certain times, which doesn’t come as naturally to me because the two formats I have played most in are one-day and Tests.
It is just a learning experience for me to keep growing with some of the players that I am around and the batting coach, Hanif [Malik], with whom I am working in the nets and trying to develop that game. I feel it can add so much to my game and help in the other formats, especially in the one-day game.
Tomorrow is a big game, not only for your team, but also for you as a captain as well. Players usually talk about how they take such crunch matches as another game and they try to stay calm. Will that be the case for you given how Kingsmen’s journey has been throughout the PSL?
You can tell yourself that it is just another game, but your mind would not let you do that.
You just have to accept how big the moment is and then stay calm and try to understand what your job is. That’s why you keep coming back to the process, which is what the good players and good leaders, that I have seen, do when the moment is in front of them. Last night was such a huge moment with six to defend and Hunain Shah understood his process.
It would be a great way to top off an unbelievable season [with a win]. But to get that trophy tomorrow is just a sequence of trusting our process and trusting everything that we’ve done over the season to go out there and perform.
You have been effectively in a knockout mode over the last two weeks [after losing the first four matches]. Does that give you an advantage over Zalmi?
I am not sure but there is a lot of belief. We have played many games and we have momentum leading into the final. But all that stuff is just words.
You have to come back the next day and start fresh. You have to go back and ask yourself, ‘okay, what made you successful? What are the lines and lengths we need to bowl and, as a batting unit, what’s the conditions like and what do we need to do to get ourselves in the game, and win the game if we are batting second?’
That is what we have to ask ourselves tomorrow. We are going to end up with a trophy, if we do that well.
But Zalmi have been an unbelievable side throughout the tournament and they deserve to be on top. We have to put our best foot forward tomorrow.
