Pakistan’s Islamabad United is a professional T20 cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League PSL. They have been participating in the competition since its inaugural year in 2015, and they are also its first winners. They play at Rawalpindi as a representation of Pakistan’s capital city.
Through its sports division Leonine Global Sports, which is now owned by Amna and Ali Naqvi, Leonine Global Investments LGI owns the entire franchise. They have not yet noticed any owner changes. Azlan Khan is the head of operations and logistics, Azhar Mahmood is the coach, Rehan-ul-Haq is the general manager, and Hassan Cheema is the strategy manager. They had a large number of former international cricket players on their coaching staff, including Johan Botha. Their coach for bowling is Saeed Ajmal.
Luke Ronchi is their current and youngest captain, Shadab Khan is their top run scorer, and Shadab Khan is their top scorer overall.
Ownership History
Since 2015, the franchise has been owned by Leonine Global Sports; it cost them US$15 million to purchase it.
Team Identity and Sponsors
On December 22, 2015, a ceremony at the Islamabad Polo Club unveiled the name and logo. The lion in the team’s logo symbolises ferocity. Red, orange, and light brown are the major colours of IU, and these colours can be seen on their gear.
The table below contains information about the sponsor.
| 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 1st Edition | PSL 2016
Despite having a rough start to the competition, they finished third in their round-robin group and advanced to the knockout stage.
In the elimination round, they faced Team Karachi Kings and defeated them by a margin of nine wickets. Sharjeel Khan had a fantastic effort against Peshawar Zalmi in the second qualification game, scoring 117 runs off of just 62 balls, the first century of the PSL. In response to the 176 runs, Peshawar Zalmi was dismissed on 126 and lost by 50 runs.
Quetta Gladiators were defeated by Islamabad by six wickets in the Pakistan Super League Final. After winning the toss, United decided to bowl first, 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 2nd Edition | PSL 2017
Islamabad United decided to keep 17 players from their PSL 1 team in the 2017 Pakistan Super League player draught. In that draught, Ben Duckett, Zohaib Khan, and Shadab Khan were chosen. Ben Duckett and Andre Russell were later replaced by Nicholas Pooran and Steven Finn, respectively.
They defeated Peshawar Zalmi in their opening match, winning. The contest was subsequently moved to Sharjah, where they defeated Quetta Gladiators, lost to Karachi Kings, defeated Peshawar Zalmi again, and lost to Lahore Qalandars by one wicket in the subsequent match.
The competition was then shifted back to Dubai, where they defeated Quetta Gladiators handily. Like last year, IU was scheduled to play Karachi in the elimination round. However, this time luck was on Karachi Kings’ side as they defeated Islamabad by 42 runs while scoring just 126 runs, while Islamabad was shut out in just 84 runs.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Dwayne Smith (274)
Most Wickets: Rumman Raees (18)
PSL 3rd Edition | PSL 2018
Islamabad United’s voyage began with a defeat to Peshawar Zalmi, which they suffered by a score of 34 runs. To recapture their momentum, they defeated Multan Sultans in the following game. Later, the league stage was moved to Sharjah, where they lost by 6 wickets to the Quetta Gladiators but won in the subsequent match against the Lahore Qalandars. They defeated the Karachi Kings by 8 wickets in the following game.
In the championship game, Islamabad United defeated Peshawar Zalmi after outrunning their opponents’ 149-point aim.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Luke Ronchi (435)
- Most Wickets: Faheem Ashraf (18)
PSL 4th Edition | PSL 2019
After Lahore Qalandars pursued 171 runs in the first game, Islamabad United overcame them. Then they dropped their following two games to Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans. They defeated Peshawar Zalmi by 12 runs in their ensuing match. Shadab Khan took over as captain after Muhammad Sami was injured during the team’s subsequent encounter against the Karachi Kings. That game was easily won by them. They lost by six wickets in their subsequent match against the Multan Sultans. However, they were successful in defeating Karachi Kings in their subsequent game.
In their subsequent games, they defeated Peshawar Zalmi, fell to Quetta Gladiators, triumphed over Lahore Qalandars, and advanced to the play-offs, where they defeated Karachi and fell to Peshawar Zalmi in the elimination round.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Cameron Delport (355)
- Most Wickets: Faheem Ashraf (21)
PSL 5th Edition | PSL 2020
Quetta was Islamabad’s first opponent, and they defeated them by a margin of five wickets. Then, they defeated Multan Sultans by eight wickets before defeating Lahore Qalandars by one wicket. They once again fell to Quetta Gladiators in their fourth game. The weather forced the cancellation of their ensuing encounter against Peshawar Zalmi. Both their subsequent games and their final match were losses against Karachi Kings.
As a result, they were eliminated from the tournament because they were unable to advance to the playoffs.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Luke Ronchi (266)
- Most Wickets: Shadab Khan (8)
PSL 6th Edition | PSL 2021
Islamabad United began this season’s successful campaign by defeating Multan Sultans by three wickets. They also defeated Karachi Kings, won their game against them, but fell to Peshawar Zalmi and Lahore Qalandars in their third and fourth games, respectively. By winning all of the remaining games and making it to the Play-Offs, they gained momentum.
However, they lost both of their games in the Play-Offs and were ousted from the competition.
- Coach: Dean Jones
- Captain: Misbah ul Haq
- Most Runs: Colin Munro (285)
- Most Wickets: Hassan Ali (10)
PSL 7th Edition | PSL 2022
They won over Peshawar Zalmi to kick off their campaign effectively once more. In their subsequent encounter against Multan Sultans, they were defeated. They won against Quetta, lost to Lahore in the following game, won against Karachi in the following game, and then lost to Quetta in the following game. They then succeeded in making it into the elimination round.
IU defeated Peshawar Zalmi in their first elimination match, but fell to Lahore Qalandars in their subsequent elimination match.
PSL 8th Edition | PSL 2023
Pakistan Super League’s most recent season is slated to take place in February and March of 2023. The draught was completed on December 15, 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 |
