Aaron Hardie Stars as Peshawar Zalmi Win PSL 2026 Title
Al Jazeera Staff
Aaron Hardie's all-round performance (4 wickets, 56 runs) led Peshawar Zalmi to a 5-wicket victory over Hyderabad Kingsmen in the PSL 2026 final. Captain Babar Azam finished as the tournament's top scorer with 588 runs, equalling a record.
Peshawar Zalmi claimed their second Pakistan Super League (PSL) title in franchise history with a 5-wicket win over newcomers Hyderabad Kingsmen in the final played on the evening of May 3 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
The hero of the match was Australian all-rounder Aaron Hardie, who took 4 wickets for 27 runs to restrict Hyderabad to 129 runs (18 overs). He then scored an unbeaten 56 off 39 balls to guide Peshawar home safely at 130-5 in 15.2 overs.
The victory also marked a comeback for captain Babar Azam, who had recently fallen out of favour with the national team. Babar finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer with 588 runs, including two centuries, equalling Fakhar Zaman's PSL record.
"This is a huge achievement for me, for Peshawar Zalmi and for all the fans. Throughout the tournament, we played very well as a unit. Every player executed the plans perfectly. We just focused on one game at a time," Babar said.
Peshawar won the toss and elected to bowl. They started poorly with Babar out for a duck, while batters Mohammad Haris, Kusal Mendis and Michael Bracewell also managed only single-digit scores, leaving the team at 40-4 in the first five overs.
However, Hardie (9 boundaries) combined with Abdul Samad (48 runs) to build a match-turning 85-run partnership. Samad was caught at the boundary when Peshawar needed just five runs to win, but Hardie completed the victory.
"It was a fantastic game of cricket. The Kingsmen started very strongly, but I'm proud of the boys for fighting back," Hardie said.
In response, Hyderabad chose to bat first. They had a strong powerplay at 69-2, but then lost momentum and collapsed to 73-6 within nine balls after the powerplay, scoring just two runs. Saim Ayub (54 runs) was the lone bright spot with a half-century.
Hyderabad captain Marnus Labuschagne (20 runs) admitted his team didn't have enough runs on the board. "We could have added a few more runs. Putting them at 40-4 was good, but tonight it just wasn't enough," he said.
Hyderabad had enjoyed a remarkable run, losing their first four group matches before winning four straight to reach the final after eliminating Multan Sultans and Islamabad United. "Tonight hurts, but looking back, we created some great memories," Labuschagne added.
