LAHORE, Pakistan (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 on Sunday.
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.
Peshawar, which won the toss and chose to chase, had slumped to 40-4 inside the first five overs after losing its captain and tournament top run-scorer Babar Azam for a golden duck while 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.
Peshawar was favorite for the title after it lost only one game in the tournament with Babar equaling Fakhar Zaman’s PSL record of 588 runs in one edition of the tournament.
Hyderabad, led by Australian Marnus Labuschagne, had a fairytale run in the tournament when it came back strongly after losing its first four league games and also knocked out both former champions Multan Sultans and Islamabad United in the playoffs.
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