Peshawar Zalmi 130 for 5 (Hardie 56*, Samad 48, Ali 3-38) beat Hyderabad Kingsmen 129 (Ayub 54, Hardie 4-27) by five wickets
It was a miraculous turnaround by Kingsmen that set their final with Zalmi as no team before them had ever reached the playoffs after losing their first four matches of the season. They had won seven of their last eight matches to reach this far, but having come in touching distance of the coveted trophy, their batters unravelled and registered the lowest first-innings total in a PSL final.
Babar Azam’s decision to insert Kingsmen was influenced by the green tinge on the pitch, but his bowlers did not need to rely much on the surface as Kingsmen threw their wickets one after another. Their entire middle order was wiped amid an awful collapse, during which they lost four wickets for only two runs in eight balls. Two of those wickets were run outs.
That Kingsmen had something to bowl with was because of Ayub, who scored his maiden half-century of the season. The left-hander made 54 off 50 after walking out to the middle in the second over. He got off to a flier, scoring 30 off 14. His 35-run stand for the second wicket with Marnus Labuschagne, who made 20 off 12, seemed promising before the Kingsmen captain became first of the four Hardie’s scalps.
Ayub unfurled his signature flick off Rana in the sixth over and drove him through the covers next ball as he stamped his authority over the opposition, but he had to rein in after the collapse. The longest that a partnership lasted in the innings was 24 balls, it was between Ayub and Hunain Shah for the eighth wicket. Hardie struck twice in the 18th over, accounting for Ayub at the start and Akif Javed towards the end to bag his first T20 four-for.
Mohammad Ali and Kingsmen celebrated passionately when he had Babar caught behind to go along with Mohammad Haris’ wicket in a dream first over. Hunain, the star of the second eliminator, got Kusal Mendis in the fourth over and Akif sent Bracewell packing soon after as Zalmi reeled at 40 for 4.
Towards the end, Samad seemed to be clobbering boundaries for fun. He clubbed Ali for a six and a four before he was caught at deep midwicket trying to seal the chase with a maximum with five runs to go. Victory was secured in the next over as Farhan Yousuf steered a bouncer from Hunain to the fine leg boundary.
