Islamabad United is a professional T20 cricket franchise from Pakistan which plays in Pakistan Super League PSL cricket league. They are playing the tournament since its first season in 2015 and are also the first champions. They represent the capital city of Pakistan and their home ground is Rawalpindi.
The complete franchise is owned by Leonine Global Investments LGI through its sports subsidiary Leonine Global Sports which is currently owned by Amna Naqvi and Ali Naqvi. They didn’t saw any owner shift till now. The staff includes Azhar Mahmood as their coach, Rehan-ul-Haq as their General Manager, Azlan Khan as head of Operations and Logistics, Hassan Cheema as the Strategy Manager. Many former international cricketers like Johan Botha were also part of their coaching staff. Saeed Ajmal is their bowling coach.
Shadab Khan is their current and youngest captain, Luke Ronchi is the leading scorer while Shadab Khan is their leading run scorer.
Contents
Ownership History
The Leonine Global Sports owns the franchise since 2015, it was sold to them in US$15 Million.
Team Identity and Sponsors
The logo and name was revealed in a ceremony held in Islamabad Polo Club on 22 December 2015. The logo of the team shows a lion which depicts aggression. IU primary colors are red, orange and light brown which are also visible on their kit.
The sponsor details are given in the table below.
| Year | Shirt (Front) |
Shirt (Back) |
Front Branding | Sleeve Branding |
| 2016 | Dostea | Dunya News | Dostea | |
| 2017 | Q Mobile | PTCL | JS Bank | Dunya News |
| 2018 | Gwadar Golf City |
Tang | Samaa News/ G.F.C/Dairy Milk |
|
| 2019 | Bisconni | Fast Cables | Samaa/ Tetra Pak/Sprite |
|
| 2020 | Dastak | Express News/FM 101 | ||
| 2021 | Sabroso | Ufone | Snack Video/ Tetra Pak |
|
| 2022 | jomo.pk | DCODE/Tetra Pak/foodpanda | ||
Islamabad United Kit
Islamabad United PSL History
PSL 1 2016
Even after a poor start in the tournament, they got placed third in the round robin group stage, they then qualified for the knock out stage.
They faced team Karachi Kings in the eliminator stage, beating them by nine wickets. In the second qualifier match, IU were facing Peshawar Zalmi, the excellent performance from Sharjeel Khan who scored 117 from 62 balls, this was the first century of PSL. Peshawar Zalmi in response to the 176 runs got out on 126 and lost by 50 runs.
The Pakistan Super League 2016 Final was won by Islamabad by six wickets beating the Quetta Gladiators. United opted to bowl first after winning the toss and the Gladiators scored 174–7 in their 20 overs.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Sharjeel Khan (299)
- Most Wickets: Andre Rusell (16)
PSL 2 2017
In Pakistan Super League 2017 players draft, Islamabad United opted to retain 17 players from their previous squad of PSL 1. Ben Duckett, Zohaib Khan and Shadab Khan were picked in that draft. Later Andre Russell was replaced by Steven Finn and Ben Duckett was replaced by Nicholas Pooran.
They won their first game against Peshawar Zalmi. The tournament was then shifted to Sharjah, where they won against Quetta Gladiators, then lost to Karachi Kings, then again won against Peshawar Zalmi and then in the following match lost to Lahore Qalandars by one wicket.
The tournament was then moved back to Dubai, where they registered a comprehensive win against Quetta Gladiators. Like last season, IU again were to face Karachi in the eliminator, but this time luck proved to be in favor of Karachi Kings as they won by 42 runs after scoring just scoring 126 runs and Islamabad got all out on 84 runs.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Dwayne Smith (274)
Most Wickets: Rumman Raees (18)
PSL 3 2018
Islamabad United started their journey with a loss to Peshawar Zalmi as they lost by 34 runs. They won in the next match from Multan Sultans to regain their momentum. Later the league stage was shifted to Sharjah, where they lost to Quetta Gladiators by 6 wickets but in the next game against Lahore Qalandars, they won again in super over. In the next match, they won from Karachi Kings y 8 wickets.
In the final match, Islamabad United won against Peshawar Zalmi as they successfully chased the target of 149 posted by the opponents.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Luke Ronchi (435)
- Most Wickets: Faheem Ashraf (18)
PSL 4 2019
Islamabad United defeated Lahore Qalandars in the first match after they chased 171 runs. Then lost their next two matches against Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators. In the next game against Peshawar Zalmi, they won by 12 runs. In the next match against Karachi Kings, captain Muhammad Sami got injured and Shadab Khan was named as captain to lead the side. They won that match easily. In next match against Multan sultans they lost by 6 wickets. However, they managed to win their next match against Karachi Kings.
In their next matches, they won against Peshawar Zalmi, lost to Quetta Gladiators, won against Lahore Qalandars and qualified for play-offs, where they won against Karachi and then in eliminator match lost to Peshawar Zalmi.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Cameron Delport (355)
- Most Wickets: Faheem Ashraf (21)
PSL 5 2020
Islamabad started their campaign against Quetta, losing from them by 5 wickets. After that they won by 8 wickers from Multan Sultans and then won from Lahore Qalandars by 1 wicket. In their fourth match, they again lost ot Quetta Gladiators. Their next match against Peshawar Zalmi was abandoned due to the rain. In next match they lost to Karachi Kings, also in their last match they also lost to Karachi.
This ended their journey in the tournament as they couldn’t qualify for the playoffs.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Luke Ronchi (266)
- Most Wickets: Shadab Khan (8)
PSL 6 2021
In this season, Islamabad United started their successful campaign by winning against Multan Sultans by 3 wickers. They also won their match against Karachi Kings and lost third and fourth match against Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars respectively. They regained their momentum by winning all of the remaining matches and qualifying for Play-Offs.
But they lost their both matches in Play-Offs and got eliminated from the tournament.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Colin Munro (285)
- Most Wickets: Hassan Ali (10)
PSL 7 2022
They again started their campaign successfully by winning against Peshawar Zalmi. Later they lost to Multan Sultans in their second match. Next matches were like roller coaster ride for them as they won against Quetta and lost to Lahore in next match, won next fixture against Karachi and lost next to Quetta. They then somehow managed to qualify for the eliminators phase.
IU won their first eliminator against Peshawar Zalmi but lost to Lahore Qalandars in second eliminator.
PSL 8 2023
The latest season of Pakistan Super League is scheduled to be played in February, March 2023. The draft has taken place on 15th December 2022.
Islamabad United Players 2023
- Shadab Khan
- Tymal Mills
- Gus Atkinson
- Asif Ali
- Mohammad Wasim Jnr
- Fazal Haq Farooqi
- Hasan Ali
- Faheem Ashraf
- Azam Khan
- Paul Stirling
- Colin Munro
- Abrar Ahmed
- Sohaib Maqsood
- Ruman Raees
- Zeeshan Zamir
- Hassan Nawaz
- Tom Curran
Islamabad United has selected 2 players in supplementary category.
- Moeen Ali
- Mubashir Khan
Islamabad United Player Statistics
Most Runs
| Player | Years | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | HS | 100 | 50 |
| Luke Ronchi | 2018–2020 | 31 | 31 | 1020 | 36.42 | 94* | 0 | 10 |
| Asif Ali | 2016–2023 | 67 | 57 | 1016 | 23.09 | 75 | 0 | 3 |
| Shadab Khan | 2017–2023 | 61 | 49 | 800 | 18.60 | 91 | 0 | 5 |
| Colin Munro | 2020–2023 | 18 | 18 | 698 | 49.85 | 90* | 0 | 7 |
| Alex Hales | 2018–2023 | 19 | 19 | 623 | 34.61 | 82* | 0 | 3 |
Most Wickets
| Player | Years | Matches | Wickets | Avg | BBI | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w |
| Shadab Khan | 2017–2023 | 61 | 65 | 24.23 | 5/28 | 7.26 | 20.0 | 2 | 1 |
| Faheem Ashraf | 2018–2023 | 49 | 64 | 20.71 | 6/19 | 7.94 | 15.6 | 1 | 1 |
| Mohammad Sami | 2016–2023 | 36 | 42 | 20.83 | 5/8 | 6.88 | 18.1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rumman Raees | 2016–2023 | 32 | 34 | 24.05 | 4/25 | 7.43 | 19.4 | 1 | 0 |
| Hasan Ali | 2021–2023 | 19 | 22 | 28.81 | 3/30 | 8.62 | 20.0 | 0 | 0 |
Islamabad United Result Record
Overall
| Year | P | W | L | T&W | T&L | NR | Win % | Position | Summary |
| 2016 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63.63 | 1/5 | Champions |
| 2017 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.44 | 4/5 | Play-offs (4th) |
| 2018 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 75.00 | 1/6 | Champions |
| 2019 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | 3/6 | Play-offs |
| 2020 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.27 | 6/6 | League Stage |
| 2021 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 | 3/6 | Play-offs |
| 2022 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41.66 | 4/6 | Play-offs (3rd) |
| Total | 77 | 41 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 53.89 | 1st | Won 2 Times |
Head to Head
| Team | Years | Mat | Won | Lost | T&W | T&L | NR | SR% |
| Karachi Kings | 2016–2023 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Lahore Qalandars | 2016–2023 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 56.67 |
| Multan Sultans | 2018–2023 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Peshawar Zalmi | 2016–2023 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 |
| Quetta Gladiators | 2016–2023 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46.66 |
Management/Coaching Staff and Captains
| Name | Position |
| Ali Naqvi & Amna Naqvi | Owner(s) |
| Azhar Mahmood | Head coach |
| Saeed Ajmal | Assistant and Spin bowling coach |
| Rehan Ul Haq | General Manager |
| Hassan Cheema | Strategy Manager |
| Azlan Khan | Head of Operations & Logistics |
| Ashley Wright | Batting Coach |
| Hanif Malik | Performance Coach |
| Jason Pilgram | Physio/Team Doctor |
Captains
| No. | Player | From | To | Mat | Won | Lost | T&W | T&L | NR | % |
| 1 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 2016 | 2018 | 26 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 59.61 |
| 2 | Shane Watson | 2016 | 2016 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| 3 | Rumman Raees | 2018 | 2018 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| 4 | JP Duminy | 2018 | 2018 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| 5 | Mohammad Sami | 2019 | 2019 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44.44 |
| 6 | Shadab Khan | 2019 | Present | 32 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 53.12 |