Karachi Kings 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 PSL 5 champions. They represent the capital city of Sindh and their home ground is National Stadium Karachi.
Many famous former international players are part of Karachi’s franchise. Peter Moores is their current head coach while Wasim Akram is their president and mentor. Dougie Brown is King’s bowling coach. Talking about their top players, Muhammad Amir is leading wicket taker while Babar Azam is leading run scorer for the side.
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Ownership History
Salman Iqbal is the owner of Karachi Kings. The franchise was sold to ARY Media Group in 2015 for US$26 million with ten years contract. As per the amount, it was the most expensive franchise of the PSL at that team, later Multan Sultans replaced them as the most expensive franchise.
Team Identity and Sponsors
The team logo and name was revealed by the owner Salman Iqbal in December 2015. The logo shows a roaring lion with the team name written below. Karachi Kings primary colors are blue and golden. There are many sponsors of this franchise which are listed below.
| Year | Kit Makers | Shirt Sponsor (Front) | Shirt Sponsor (Back) | Front Branding | Sleeve Branding |
| 2016 | AJ Sports | Bahria Town | Summit Bank | The Arkadians | Oye Hoye Chips/K-Electric/ Shield/Igloo Ice-cream |
| 2017 | Bridge Power Batteries | Oye Hoye Chips/Shield/Tapal Tea | |||
| 2018 | Nurpur | Brighto Paints/Imtiaz super market/Shield | |||
| 2019 | TUC | Scene on! | Cadbury Dairy Milk | Imtiaz Super Market/Inverex/Rooh Afza | |
| 2020 | ARY Laguna | QMobile | Surf Excel | Imtiaz Super Market/Mughal Steel/ARY Laguna | |
| 2021 | Hashmi Ispaghol | Pepsi | Imtiaz Super Market/Mughal Steel/ME Body Spray | ||
| 2022 | PSO Carient Motor Oil | BankIslami | Imtiaz Super Market/Mughal Steel/Bona Papa |
Karachi Kings Kit
Karachi Kings PSL History
PSL 1 2016
Karachi started their campaign in the tournament with a win against Lahore Qalandars. Muhammad Amir also got a hat-trick during this match. Later they performed very poorly and only managed to win one match after it. They finished at 4th place on the points table with 4 points by winning 2 out of 8 group stage matches.
They still managed to qualify for the play-offs where they faced Islamabad United in the eliminator match and lost, ending their journey in the first season.
- Coach: Mickey Arthur
- Captain: Shoaib Malik
- Most Runs: Ravi Bopara (329)
- Most Wickets: Ravi Bopara (11)
PSL 2 2017
Kumar Sangakkara along with the Babar Azam joined the Karachi Kings team for the second season while Azhar Mehmood also signed as the coach. They finished at 3rd place on the points table with 8 points as they won 4 out of 8 matches during the group stage.
They got qualified for the play-offs stage and faced Islamabad United during the qualifier match and won. In the second eliminator match, they came across Peshawar Zalmi but lost from them and ended their tournament at 3rd place.
- Coach: Mickey Arthur
- Captain: Kumar Sangakkara
- Most Runs: Babar Azam (291)
- Most Wickets: Sohail Khan (16)
PSL 3 2018
Karachi Kings changed their captain before the start of 3rd season as Imad Wasim was named for the top spot by replacing Kumar Sangakkara. Shahid Afridi also joined the team as senior player and president. Karachi finished at 3rd spot on the points table after the group stage as they managed to win 5 out of 10 matches and 1 match rendered no result.
After that, they qualified for the play-offs stage where they faced Islamabad United in the first match. They beat United to play the next eliminator match against Peshawar Zalmi, in this season again they lost to them and in this way their tournament was ended.
- Coach: Mickey Arthur
- Captain: Imad Wasim
- Most Runs: Babar Azam (402)
- Most Wickets: Usman Shinwari (18)
PSL 4 2019
Imad Wasim was retained as the captain of the side for this season also. They started their campaign on a good note by beating Multan Sultans by 7 runs. They managed to win 5 out of 10 group matches and ended up on 4th place on the points table with 10 points.
They again qualified for the play-offs stage and faced Islamabad United in the eliminator match and lost to them by 4 wickets. This loss ended their run in the tournament.
- Coach: Mickey Arthur
- Captain: Imad Wasim
- Most Runs: Babar Azam (473)
- Most Wickets: Mohammad Amir (10)
PSL 5 2020
Many of the players were retained along with the captain Imad Wasim. Karachi started off good by beating Peshawar Zalmi by 10 runs in the opening match but later lost to Quetta Gladiators in the second match. They finished at second place with 11 points in the group stage as they managed to win 5 out of 10 matches and 1 match was tied.
They got qualified for the play-offs stage and faced Multan Sultans in the qualifier match, they beat Sultans by 2 wickets in a close contest and reached finals. In the final match, they beat Lahore Qalandars by 5 wickets to become the champions and lift the PSL trophy for the first time.
PSL 6 2021
In this season, Kings changed their coach and responsibilities were handed over to the former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs. The defending champions started their run in the tournament with a win over Quetta Gladiators. They managed to win 5 out of 10 group matches and finished at 4th place on the points table with 10 points.
They got the chance to play in the eliminator match but lost to Peshawar Zalmi by 5 wickers and got eliminated from the tournament.
PSL 7 2022
This season proved to be an absolute disaster for the Karachi Kings. They only managed to win 1 match against Lahore Qalandars. In remaining 9 matches, they were on the losing side. Karachi finished at bottom of the points table with only 2 points.
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.
Karachi Kings Players 2023
- Haider Ali
- Matthew Wade
- Imran Tahir
- Imad Wasim
- James Fuller
- James Vince
- Andrew Tye
- Shoaib Malik
- Mohammad Amir
- Tayyab Tahir
- Mohammad Akhlaq
- Sharjeel Khan
- Mir Hamza
- Aamir Yamin
- Qasim Akram
- Irfan Khan Niazi
- Ben Cutting
- Musa Khan
Karachi Kings has
- Faysal Akram
- Mohammad Umar
Karachi Kings Player Statistics
Most Runs
| Player | Years | Matches | Innings | Runs | Avg. | HS | 100 | 50 |
| Babar Azam | 2017-2023 | 56 | 54 | 2055 | 44.67 | 90* | 0 | 21 |
| Colin Ingram | 2018-2021 | 28 | 26 | 613 | 30.65 | 127* | 1 | 2 |
| Ravi Bopara | 2016-2019 | 31 | 28 | 575 | 28.75 | 71* | 0 | 3 |
| Sharjeel Khan | 2020-2023 | 23 | 22 | 554 | 26.38 | 105 | 1 | 2 |
| Imad Wasim | 2016-2023 | 59 | 45 | 541 | 18.03 | 50 | 0 | 1 |
Most Wickets
| Player | Years | Matches | Wickets | Avg. | BBI | Econ | SR | 4W | 5W |
| Mohammad Amir | 2016-2023 | 59 | 54 | 29.59 | 4/25 | 7.38 | 14.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Imad Wasim | 2016-2023 | 59 | 36 | 34.58 | 3/18 | 7.05 | 29.4 | 0 | 0 |
| Usman Shinwari | 2017–2019 | 27 | 35 | 24.65 | 4/15 | 8.50 | 15.2 | 2 | 0 |
| Sohail Khan | 2016–2017; 2019 | 19 | 22 | 25.09 | 3/23 | 8.19 | 18.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Umer Khan | 2019–2020 | 17 | 19 | 20.89 | 3/22 | 7.78 | 16.1 | 0 | 0 |
Karachi Kings Result Record
Overall
| Year | P | Won | Loss | T&W | T&L | NR | SR(%) | Position | Summary |
| 2016 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22.22 | 4/5 | Play-offs |
| 2017 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | 3/5 | Play-offs |
| 2018 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | 3/6 | Play-offs |
| 2019 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 | 4/6 | Play-offs |
| 2020 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 58.33 | 1/6 | Champions |
| 2021 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 | 4/6 | Play-offs |
| 2022 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 | 6/6 | League-stage |
| Total | 75 | 29 | 42 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 38.67% | 1 Time Champion |
Head-to-Head
| Opposition | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | T&W | T&L | NR | SR% |
| Islamabad United | 2016-2023 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Lahore Qalandars | 2016-2023 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 65.38 |
| Multan Sultans | 2018-2023 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 64.28 |
| Peshawar Zalmi | 2016-2023 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Quetta Gladiators | 2018-2023 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41.66 |
Management/Coaching Staff and Captains
| Name | Position |
| Salman Iqbal | Owner |
| Peter Moores | Head coach |
| Wasim Akram | President and Mentor |
| Dougie Brown | Bowling coach |
| Tariq Wasi | CEO & Team Manager |
| Navaid Rasheed | VP Operations |
| Shehzad Hassan Khan | Head of Marketing |
| Faisal Mirza | Team Media Manager |
| Ibrahim Qureshi | Fitness Trainer |
Captains
| No. | Player | From | To | Mat | Won | Lost | T&W | T&L | NR | % |
| 1 | Shoaib Malik | 2016 | 2016 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| 2 | Ravi Bopara | 2016 | 2016 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00.00 |
| 3 | Kumar Sangakkara | 2017 | 2017 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| 4 | Imad Wasim | 2018 | 2021 | 41 | 20 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 53.84 |
| 5 | Eoin Morgan | 2018 | 2018 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| 6 | Mohammad Amir | 2018 | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00.00 |
| 8 | Babar Azam | 2020 | 2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 9 | Babar Azam | 2022 | 2023 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 |