Eight matches in Karachi
The fourth season carried the same shape as the third and moved further along the same road. The franchises and the board had discussed holding the whole tournament in Pakistan in June 2018 and decided against it. What they settled on instead was the last eight matches at home, all of them at the National Stadium in Karachi, including every playoff match and the final. The first twenty-six were played in the Emirates, with Abu Dhabi added to Dubai and Sharjah for the first time.
Even that plan was disrupted. Three matches had been scheduled for Lahore and were moved to Karachi after Pakistani airspace was closed to commercial traffic during the military exchanges with India at the end of February. The reason for the change was not the security of the ground but the difficulty of getting teams to it.
Watson and Hasan
Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators each won seven of their ten group matches, Peshawar taking top place on run rate. Shane Watson made 430 runs at the top of the Quetta order, including 91 from 55 against Islamabad United, and was named player of the tournament. Peshawar were carried by Hasan Ali, whose 25 wickets were the most anyone had taken in a season of the competition to that point.
The two met in the Qualifier at Karachi on 13 March. Quetta made 186 for 6 and won by ten runs. Islamabad beat Karachi Kings in Eliminator 1, chasing 162 with three balls left, and were then removed by Peshawar in Eliminator 2, where Kamran Akmal's 74 from 43 balls helped set 214 and the margin was 48 runs.
Karachi, 17 March
Peshawar batted first in the final and made 138 for 8, held there by Quetta's bowlers on a used pitch. Mohammad Hasnain, an 18-year-old fast bowler in his first season, took the man of the match award. Quetta chased it down with 13 balls to spare and lost two wickets doing so. It was their first title, at the third final in four seasons.
Colin Ingram's 127 from 59 balls for Karachi Kings was the highest score of the tournament; Cameron Delport made 117 for Islamabad in the first match played in Karachi, in which they scored 238 for 3. Faheem Ashraf's 6 for 19 was the best bowling.
Reported attendance was just under 496,000, a quarter of a million more than the first season and a figure the eight matches in Karachi did much to produce. The direction of travel was now obvious. The 2020 season was scheduled entirely at home.