Peshawar Zalmi won PSL 2026 under the captaincy of Babar Azam. His trophy celebration after the final went viral. Fans trolled him by accusing him of copying Rohit Sharma’s iconic walk.
Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam is once again in the headlines. The reason is his way of celebrating with the team after winning the PSL 2026 final, which has now gone viral. The final was played against Hyderabad Kingsmen at the National Cricket Stadium, Karachi on Sunday, 3 May. Under the captaincy of Babar Azam, Peshawar Zalmi won their second PSL title. In the final, they defeated Hyderabad Kingsmen, playing for the first time, by five wickets. Chasing a modest target of 129 runs, Aaron Hardy’s unbeaten 56 and a crucial 85-run partnership with Abdul Samad for the fourth wicket sealed Zalmi’s victory. Samad scored 48 runs in 34 balls and Zalmi won the match with 28 balls remaining.
Earlier, Aaron Hardy had broken the back of Hyderabad Kingsmen by taking four wickets. Nahid Rana (2/22), Mohammad Basit (1/22), and Sufiyan Mokim (1/23) also bowled well, as Hyderabad were restricted to 129 runs despite a fifty from Saim Ayub.
Babar Azam’s trophy celebration went viral
Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam was very happy after making his team PSL champion after 9 years. But what caught the attention of fans on social media, especially on X (earlier Twitter), was Babar’s style of celebrating with the trophy. In a video that went viral on X, Babar Azam is seen walking towards the podium in a special style. On the other side of the stage, his teammates were eagerly waiting to lift the trophy.
As soon as Babar took the trophy from the hands of PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, he celebrated by raising it in the air and his teammates also joined him on the stage.
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However, fans and cricket experts immediately realized that Babar Azam was trying to copy Rohit Sharma’s iconic walk in the T20 World Cup 2024. At that time, Rohit walked slowly and confidently on the podium and then lifted the trophy. That moment of his had gone viral across the world.
It is said that Rohit’s walk was inspired by WWE legend Ric Flair’s iconic ‘Strut-Style Walk’, which later became a trend in many sports celebrations.
‘Every masterpiece has a cheap copy’
There was a flood of reactions on social media, especially X, on this trophy celebration of Babar Azam. Fans and cricket lovers are trolling the Pakistani star batsman for copying Rohit Sharma’s iconic walk. Fans made fun of the celebration on their X handles. Many claimed that Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed tried to copy Rohit Sharma’s iconic trophy walk, but it turned out to be a ‘failed copy’. Meanwhile, other users flooded social media with memes, sarcastic comments and comparisons like “cheap copy vs. masterpiece” on the viral moment.
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Apart from helping Peshawar Zalmi win the PSL 2026 title, Babar Azam was also the best batsman of the tournament. He scored 588 runs in 11 matches at an average of 73.50 and strike rate of 145.90, which included two centuries and 3 half-centuries. Meanwhile, Babar Azam left for Bangladesh the very next day after the PSL 2026 final, where he will join the national team camp ahead of the two-match Test series. The first match of the series will be played on 8 May.