Aussie allrounder took three crucial wickets as Babar Azam smashed his second century of the season
A superb all-round performance by West Australian allrounder Aaron Hardie has helped lift his ladder-leading Peshawar Zalmi into the Pakistan Super League final with a 70-run win over Islamabad United.
Hardie followed superstar Babar Azam’s second century of the season with 10-ball 20 as Peshawar posted 7-221 after being asked to bat first in the qualifier in Karachi.
Peshawar captain Babar smashed 12 fours and four sixes from the top of the order to finish on 103 from 59 balls.
It was the second time last summer’s Sydney Sixers recruit has reached three figures this PSL season after hitting an unbeaten 100 against Quetta Gladiators 10 days ago.
Babar’s latest knock took him to the top of the season runs tally with 588 at 84, which also includes three half-centuries, overtaking teammate Kusal Mendis, who chipped in with 41 from 26 against Islamabad.
Hardie shared a quickfire 36-run fifth-wicket stand with Babar, embracing the prolific right-hander after he smashed Englishman Richard Gleeson straight back over his head for six to bring up his century.
But Hardie wasn’t done after he hit a six of his own along with two boundaries, taking three crucial wickets in the space of three overs to break the back of Islamabad’s chase.
After being given the ball in the ninth over, Hardie (3-24) struck with his first ball of the match as he had top scorer Sameer Minhas skying a pull shot to Babar at mid-off.
He then removed Islamabad captain Shadab Khan caught at short fine leg in his second over, followed by Haider Ali caught at deep point in his third as their opponents were bowled out for 151 in the penultimate over.
The Australian allrounder bowled his four overs on the bounce to be the pick of the bowlers with 3-24, taking his tally to seven wickets in five PSL matches this season.
Earlier, compatriot Chris Green wasn’t spared from the damage as he coughed up 20 runs from his two wicketless overs, with left-arm spinner Imad Wasim the only Islamabad bowler to concede less than 10 runs an over.
The win puts Hardie’s Peshawar through to the final on Sunday night (12am Monday AEST), while Islamabad will get a second chance at qualifying for the decider when they face the winner of tonight’s eliminator between Marnus Labuschagne’s Hyderabad Kingsmen and Steve Smith’s Multan Sultans on Friday night (12am Saturday AEST).
Australians in PSL 2026
Hyderabad Kingsmen: Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith
Islamabad United: Chris Green
Karachi Kings: David Warner, Adam Zampa
Lahore Qalandars: Daniel Sams
Multan Sultans: Josh Philippe, Lachlan Shaw, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Ashton Turner
Peshawar Zalmi: Aaron Hardie
Quetta Gladiators: Sam Harper, Ben McDermott
Rawalpindiz: Usman Khawaja
