Babar Azam’s powerful century (Photo: PTI)
Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 2026 Final: Peshawar Zalmi, captained by Babar Azam, has made it to the finals. It defeated Islamabad United in the qualifier match played on 28 April. Babar Azam created the biggest difference between the two teams in the qualifiers with his powerful century. The effect of this was that Peshawar Zalmi managed to score 70 runs and make it to the finals. However, despite losing the qualifiers, Islamabad United, captained by Shadab Khan, is not out of the race for the finals. He will have one more chance to reach the final and settle his score with Peshawar Zalmi along with interest.
Peshawar Zalmi in final after defeating Islamabad United
Peshawar Zalmi reached the finals by winning the qualifiers of PSL 2026. Islamabad United will now have to win Eliminator 2 to reach the finals, where they will face the winning team of Eliminator 1 between Hyderabad Kingsmen and Multan Sultans. Eliminator 1 of PSL 2026 is to be played on 29 April in Lahore. Eliminator 2 will also be played in Lahore on 1st May. The winning team of Eliminator 2 will play the final of PSL 2026 on May 3, where it will face Peshawar Zalmi.
Babar Azam completed his century for the second time like this
Peshawar Zalmi’s victory in the PSL 2026 qualifiers was a sign of Babar Azam’s unmatched batting. He scored the 12th century of his T20 career and a record fourth century in PSL. Babar Azam completed his century with a six in 57 balls. This was the second time in Babar Azam’s T20 career, when he completed his century with a six. Earlier in 2019, while playing for Somerset, Babar Azam had completed his century with a six against Hampshire.
Peshawar Zalmi in the final due to Babar Azam’s century
It was the result of Babar Azam’s 103 runs scored on 59 balls that his team Peshawar Zalmi managed to cross the 200 plus run mark for the fourth time in PSL 2026. Batting first, Peshawar Zalmi scored 221 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Islamabad United could neither play the full 20 overs nor reach the target of 222 runs. Islamabad United’s innings was limited to 151 runs in 18.4 overs. The result was that Peshawar Zalmi got the ticket for the final.
