Hardie lights up final as Peshawar wins PSL title

04/05/2026

LAHORE, Pakistan, May 4 (AP): Aaron Hardie’s brilliant all-round performance led Peshawar Zalmi to its first Pakistan Super League cricket title since 2017 with a five-wicket win over newcomer Hyderabad Kingsmen in the final.

Hardie grabbed 4-27 to bowl out Hyderabad for a below-par 129 all out in 18 overs, with Saim Ayub (54) scoring a fighting half-century. Hardie then hit a fluent 56 not out off 39 balls and anchored Peshawar to 130-5 in 15.2 overs in front of a packed crowd at Gaddafi Stadium.

"It’s a very big achievement for me, for Peshawar Zalmi and all the fans,” said Peshawar captain Babar Azam after winning his first PSL title as skipper. "Throughout the tournament, we’ve performed really well as a team … every player executed the plans they were given in batting, bowling, and fielding. We planned to go match by match.”

Peshawar, which won the toss and chose to chase, had slumped to 40-4 inside the first five overs after losing tournament top run-scorer Babar for a golden duck. At the same time, Mohammad Haris, Kusal Mendis, and Michael Bracewell also fell for single-digit scores.

But Hardie, who smashed nine fours, then combined in a match-winning stand of 85 runs with Abdul Samad (48), who missed out on his half century before holing out in the deep when Peshawar needed only five runs for victory.

"It was just a great game of cricket,” Hardie said. "Kingsmen came out of the blocks really hard. They’ve certainly had a lot of momentum from the last couple of games, and they carried that in, but I’m really proud of the way the boys were able to fight back.”

Peshawar was a favorite for the title after losing only one game in the tournament, with Babar scoring two centuries and equaling Fakhar Zaman's PSL record of 588 runs in one edition of the tournament.