Islamabad United is a professional Pakistani Twenty-20 franchise cricket squad that performs in PSL (Pakistan Super League). This team is based in the capital city of Islamabad. It was created in 2015 to contest PSL’s 1st season, and the sports entity of Leonine Global Investments, the ‘Leonine Global Sports,’ purchased this franchise.
Owners of Leonine Global Sports are Ali Naqvi and Amna Naqvi. The franchise’s chief-operating officer is Shoaib Naveed, Hasan Cheema is a strategy manager, and Rehan-ul-Haque is the general manager. Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium is the home ground of the team, and Misbah-ul-Haque is serving as team coach. This article has every detail about the article, including Islamabad United Players.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Type: | T20 |
| In Urdu: | اسلامآباد یونائیٹڈ |
| Location: | Pakistan |
| Information | |
| Captain: | Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) |
| Coach: | Dean Jones (Australia) |
| Owner: | Leonine Global Sports (Ali Naqvi & Amna Naqvi) |
| History Information | |
| Wins: | 1 (2016) |
| Website: | http://www.islamabadunited.com.pk/ |
| Team Information | |
| Team: | Islamabad United |
| Founded: | 2015 |
| Leading Run-Scorer of the Team: | Dwayne Smith |
| Leading Wicket-Taker of the Team: | Mohammad Sami |
| Assistant Coach: | Tauseef Ahmed |
| Team Director: | Former Pakistani Fast Bowler Waqar Younis |
| First PSL Title: | Won the first PSL title, defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final |
| Home Ground: | Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium |
| City : | Islamabad |
Table of Contents
Islamabad United Owners
Leonine Global Investments is the owner of this franchise; the owners are focused on business interests and investments globally via Leonine Global Sports. Amna Naqvi and Ali Naqvi own Leonine Global, and this sports company is also the owner of the franchise squad in Hong Kong Twenty-20 Blitz entitled ‘Hong Kong Island United.’
Islamabad United History
The PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) announced in 2015 that PSL’s inaugural season would be held in UAE in Feb 2016. On 3rd Dec 2015, Pakistan Cricket Board revealed owners of five franchises. Leonine Global Sports purchased Islamabad United at fifteen million US dollars.
Season 2016
It had a poor start in season 2016 of PSL and ranked 3rd in the round-robin stage, reaching its knock-out stage. United won four games out of eight games and finished with 8-points.
Defeated Kings
They faced Karachi in the eliminator and won by 9-wickets; Muhammad Sami’s bowling made this success possible as he took 5-wickets for 8-runs. Dwayne Smith and Brad Haddin scored half-centuries as Islamabad secured their target of one-hundred and eleven runs in the fifteenth over.
Match against Zalmi
In the 2nd qualifier game Islamabad faced Peshawar, Sharjeel Khan made one-hundred and seventeen runs from sixty-two balls the 1st century made in PSL. United made one-hundred, seventy-six runs for three, and Peshawar made one-hundred and twenty-six with two overs left.
Spinner Imran Khalid of United took 4-wickets for twenty runs, and Andre Russell took three wickets for thirty-seven. This victory led United to the final match against Gladiators.
Won Final Match
United won the final match of the PSL 2016 season by 6-wickets. Islamabad bowled 1st after winning a toss, and Quetta made one-hundred and seventy-four score in twenty overs. Russel took three wickets for thirty-seven. United began well with Smith making the seventy-three score, and Brad Haddin made an unbeaten sixty-one, enabling United to make one-hundred and seventy-four and won the title.
Season 2017
In PSL draft 2017, Islamabad retained seventeen players from its previous team. To complete a twenty men team, United picked Shadab Khan, Zohaib Khan, and Ben Duckett. As Andre Russell was banned for 1-year, so Steven replaced him. Nicholas Pooran returned Ben Duckett after Ben left the team due to his national duties.
Match Against Zalmi
Islamabad played the 2017 season’s inaugural match against Zalmi and won by seven wickets, and so maintained their win streak.
Defeated by Qalandars
In the next match against Qalandars, they got defeat by six wickets after making one-hundred and fifty-eight runs on board. Misbah made an unbeaten score of sixty-one off thirty-six balls, including five sixes.
Tournament in Sharjah
When the tournament moved to Sharjah, Islamabad defeated Quetta, making it their 1st loss this season. In pursuit of one-hundred and forty-nine runs, they managed to achieve the target with a loss of five wickets. Sam Billings made seventy-eight from fifty with his aggressive batting.
In the next match played against Kings, Islamabad lost by eight runs via DLS (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) method. When they made ninety runs in given thirteen overs in a rain-spoiled match dropped after 9.4 overs in 2nd innings.
Victory Against Zalmi
Islamabad had an exciting last-ball victory against Peshawar. This success was made possible by Dwayne Smith’s seventy-two runs on fifty-nine balls; Islamabad restricted opponents to a low score.
Defeated by Qalandars
In the next match, United got defeated by Lahore by one wicket in a critical game. United batted 1st and faced laborious innings, and at one point, they were 83/6. Shadab Khan, the emerging talent, made forty-two runs on twenty-four balls to help Islamabad make a total of one-hundred and forty-five.
Dubai Tournament
As the tournament moved back to Dubai, Islamabad enjoyed a thrilling victory against Gladiators. After making one-hundred and sixty-six runs, the team was probably close to defeating as Gladiators made one-hundred and eighty-four at a loss of just 1-wicket at sixteenth over. However, after the inability of opponents to chase the target, Islamabad prevailed by one run.
Match Against Karachi
United again met with Kings in the eliminator, and this match was proved a thrilling match. Karachi batted 1st and made one-hundred and twenty-six with all outs. United was expected to win qualifying for 2nd play-off, but Kings prevailed United players with Muhammad Amir, Usama Mir, and Imad Waseem taking.
Season 2018
Islamabad began their season 2018 with a defeat to Zalmi. In pursuit of one-hundred and seventy-six runs squad was reduced to 25/4 inside power-play before it had fallen short by thirty-four runs in given overs.
Victory Against Sultans
In the next match, United played against Sultans and won it with five wickets spare. Husain Talat made unbeaten innings of forty-eight runs and proved instrumental in pursuing one-hundred and fourteen in harsh batting conditions.
Tournament in Sharjah
When the league progressed to Sharjah, United faced a defeat by Quetta by six wickets. They failed to chase a target of one-hundred and thirty-five runs. The team faced Qalandars in the next match and defeated them. United restricted Qalandars to a one-hundred and twenty-one score during the match’s initial innings.
In the next match, United defeated Kings by eight wickets in pursuit of one-hundred and fifty-four runs. The aggressive innings of Luke Ronchi were instrumental in this success. It led the team to qualify for the final.
Final Match Between United & Zalmi
The final match was played between Zalmi and United, with the latter winning the match. After winning the toss, Zalmi batted 1st. Zalmi’s batsman Kamran Akmal got out for one run off eight balls, with Patel securing the wicket in 3rd over of the match.
Three wickets by Shadab Khan restricted Zalmi to one-hundred and forty-eight runs. Luke Ronchi of United hit 5-sixes in 1st 5-overs as he made forty-five runs on fifteen balls before getting out in the 9th over.
Season 2019
In the season’s opening match, Islamabad defeated Qalandars after pursuing one-hundred and seventy-one runs in the twentieth over, winning this game by five wickets.
Defeated by Gladiators and Sultans
United lost their two matches against Sultans and Gladiators by five and seven wickets respectively.
Match Against Zalmi
United played the next match against Zalmi. United gave a target of one-hundred and fifty-eight runs, and at one stage, Zalmi were at 65/5. Darren and Pollard made fifty-five runs in a partnership. Chances of Zalmi’s victory faded when Pollard returned to the pavilion after making fifty-one runs.
Towards the end of the match, United succeeded in winning the match by twelve runs after the captain Muhammad Sami completed a hat-trick in the last over.
Victory Against Kings
Muhammad Sami got injured, and Shadab Khan, the young talent, got a chance to lead the team for the 1st time. But this change didn’t prevent United from winning streak as they defeated Kings comfortably in the end. Ronchi’s sixty-seven runs on thirty-five balls made this victory possible.
Match Against Sultans
In the next match against Sultans, United batted 1st and lost the match by six wickets. They, however, won the next game against Karachi. Karachi had a good start and was expected to make a target of two-hundred runs.
Still, Islamabad bowlers showed outstanding performance during death overs, and restricted Kings to one-hundred and sixty-eight runs primarily because of Rumman Raees and Faheem Ashraf.
Season 2020
For season 2020, Chief Selector and Head Coach of Men National team Misbah-ul-Haque were selected as Head Coach to replace Dean Jones. Shadab Khan was appointed as team captain and became PSL history’s youngest captain.
Identity of United
The team’s name and logo were revealed on 22nd Dec 2015 in the ceremony organized at Islamabad’s Polo Club. The logo portrays a lion.
Islamabad United Players
- Shadab Khan
- Luke Ronchi
- Mohammad Sami
- Faheem Ashraf
- Asif Ali
- Hussain Talat
- Rumman Raees
- Amad Butt
- Colin Ingram
- Saif Badar
- Musa Khan
- Dawid Malan
- Rizwan Hussain
- Akif Javed
- Zafar Gohar
- Dale Steyn
- Phil Salt
- Sahibzada Farhan
Kit Colors
The primary colors of the team are light brown, orange, and red. For season 2019, franchised made a kit design change, making red the prominent shade with a lesser shade of golden. While in the previous kit, gold and red shades were in equal ratio.
Islamabad United Ambassadors
From 2016 to 2018, Fawad Khan remained an ambassador of United while singer Ali Zafar remained a star ambassador for season 2016 only. This franchise also concentrated on Empowerment selecting younger talent Momina Mustehsan as Empowerment Champion in season 2017.
Team’s Anthem
In the initial season, Ali Zafar sang the anthem of the team entitled ‘Chakka Chokka.’ Abdullah Qureshi sang the team’s new anthem in 2017 entitled ‘Kitna Rola Dalay Ga’ and Momina Mustehsan sang ‘Cricket Joray Pakistan.’
Team Sponsors
Dostea sponsored shirts of the squad in 2016, while GLO Merchandise and Cinepax were the team’s merchandise sponsors. The team’s official partners are WWF Pakistan, Mocca is a food partner, and FM-101 and Dunya News are entertainment and news partners.
PTV sports is the media and brand partner of the team. For 2nd season Islamabad signed Q Mobile as the leading partner and JS bank as the title sponsor. Igloo, Yayvo, and PTCL are other partners.
Social Media Partners
https://www.facebook.com/IsbUnitedPSL/