Islamabad United denied Lahore Qalandars a place in the Pakistan Super League (PSL)play-offs, eliminating Azhar Ali's men from the competition following a five-wicket win at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday (February 17). Brad Haddin scored 54 and Misbah-ul-Haq finished with an unbeaten 38 as United hunted down Lahore's 150 with five wickets and six balls to spare. Lahore's defeat means Karachi Kings go through to the next round by virtue of a better head to head record and will now take on Islamabad in the eliminator on February 20. Lahore fought hard but once again were left to missed chances, today and across the tournament that proved to be their undoing. Their over-reliance on Umar Akmal, who played yet another blazing innings, didn't help matters either. But Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood gave them a fighting chance today by helping post 150, when it looked like they would fold much earlier. The onus was on the bowling, the weakest in the competition, to make a match out of it. But Haddin, Khalid Latif and Misbah weren't in the mood for any generosity. Haddin got together with Khalid after left-arm pacer Zia-ul-Haq gave Lahore hope with a quick double strike. Dwayne Smith, playing his first game of the season, edged an attempted cut to the keeper. Sharjeel got a reprieve courtesy Adnan Rasool dropping a tough chance, but failed to capitalise as he played another ill-fated pull and top-edged it to the keeper. Haddin had sat out the initial games to accommodate Sam Billings in the side and when drafted into the playing eleven, he hadn't spend too much time in the middle. This was Lahore's chance to squeeze the innings. Instead, they allowed the former Australian to get going with a flurry of boundaries. Ehsan Adil bowled it too full and was driven down the ground for four. Zia went too short and was pulled away in front of square. When Zia attempted to angle the ball into Haddin's body, the veteran keeper-batsman made room and slapped the length delivery for six. And just like that Islamabad had 48 in the powerplay. Azhar Ali moved his bowlers around, hoping for a little change of pace to do the trick. But the troika of Dwayne Bravo, Ajantha Mendis and Cameron Delport failed to create any wicket-taking opportunities. The 69-run stand eventually came to an end in the only way it could have ended - a run out. A yes and no situation left Khalid stranded mid-pitch and despite his back-pedalling efforts, he was caught short of the crease. Haddin completed his half-century but fell to another run-out. Misbah-ul-Haq survived a dropped chance with three overs to go, but kept his composure to help his side carry a two-game winning momentum into the crucial eliminator clash against Karachi. Earlier, Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal helped Lahore recover from a horror start to post a solid total. Akmal slammed his third consecutive unbeaten half-century of the tournament to give Lahore aglimmerof hope. Put in to bat, Qalandars, having lost Chris Gayle to a back injury,were three down in no time as Mohamamd Irfan and Ruman Raees straight away hit a nagging length outside the off-stump. The disconcerting bounce generated by Irfan had Azhar Ali nicking one to slip. Cameron Delport fell a couple of deliveries later, edging to slip while attempting to force a full delivery through the covers. A short delivery from Irfan in his next over left Lahore reeling at 6 for 3 with Mohammad Rizwan hitting a pull straight to square leg. Akmal and Maqsood saw off Irfan and Raees's first spell. Lahore had 28 runs on the board at the end of the powerplay. The introduction of Azhar Mahmood increased the rate of scoring. While Akmal was content on nudging the ball around, Maqsood set the ball rolling with a pulled six and a driven four off Mahmood. Misbah shuffled his bowlers around to deny the batsmen time to settle into a rhythm, but none of the backup bowlers, save for Ashar Zaidi, were able to go through an entire over without a loose delivery. Smith, making his PSL debut, was taken apart for two fours by Akmal and a couple more boundaries by Maqsood in his two-over spell for 22. By the time Saeed Ajmal was introduced into the attack, in the 13th over, the duo had added 62 runs in nine overs. Maqsood got to his half century off 39 deliveries before Irfan returned for his second spell. Maqsood helped himself to a punchy drive for four another rising delivery from Irfan ended his innings. There was no stopping Akmal, however, who slammed his fourth half-century of the series to propel Lahore to 150, a total that was beyond defence on this Dubai featherbed. Brief Scores: Lahore Qalandars 150/5 in 20 overs (Umar Akmal 72*, Sohaib Maqsood 57; Mohammad Irfan 3-22) lost to Islamabad United 151/5 in 19 overs (Brad Haddin, Misbah-ul-Haq 38*; Zia-ul-Haq 2-38) by 5 wickets.