Islamabad United in 2016

Islamabad United is a franchise cricket team which nominally represents the capital city of Pakistan Islamabad. The team plays in the Pakistan Super League which takes place in the United Arab Emirates – as such the team does not play any matches in Islamabad.[1] The team is owned by Leonine Global Sports, a UAE based company, which bought it for US$15 Million for a 10-year period in 2015.[2]

Players with international caps before the start of the 2016 PSL season are listed in bold.[6]

Name	Nat.	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
Sharjeel Khan		Left-hand	Right-arm leg spin
Babar Azam		Right-hand	Right-arm off spin
Misbah-ul-Haq		Right-hand	Right-arm leg spin	Captain
Khalid Latif		Right-hand	Right-arm off Spin
Hussain Talat		Left-hand	Right arm medium
Umar Siddiq		Left-hand	Right-arm off spin
Asif Ali		Right-hand	Right-arm Medium-Fast
All-Rounders
Shane Watson		Right-hand	Right arm fast medium	First overseas player picked in PSL[7]
Azhar Mahmood		Right-hand	Right-Arm Fast-Medium
Ashar Zaidi		Left-hand	Left Arm orthodox
Kamran Ghulam		Right-hand	Left arm orthodox
Imran Khalid		Left-hand	Left arm orthodox spin
Umar Amin		Left-hand	Right-arm medium
Dwayne Smith		Right-hand	Right-arm Medium	Overseas
Andre Russell		Right-hand	Right arm Fast bowling	Overseas
Wicket-keepers
Sam Billings		Right-hand	—	Overseas
Brad Haddin		Right-hand	—	Overseas
Bowlers
Saeed Ajmal		Right-hand	Right arm off Spin
Mohammad Irfan		Right-hand	Left arm fast
Mohammad Sami		Right-hand	Right arm fast
Samuel Badree		Right-hand	Right arm leg spin	Overseas
Rumman Raees		Right-hand	Left arm medium fast
Amad Butt		Right-hand	Right arm fast

Misbah ul Haq is the Captain of Islamabad United

After a poor start to the 2016 Pakistan Super League tournament Islamabad United finished third in the round robin group stage, qualifying for the knock out stage of the tournament. The team won four matches out of eight, finishing with eight points from their group games.

They faced fourth placed Karachi Kings in the eliminator, winning by nine wickets thanks to Mohammad Sami's man of the match performance of five wickets for eight runs from four overs. Brad Haddin and Dwayne Smith each scored fifties as United achieved their target of111 in the 15th over.[8]

In the second qualifier match Islamabad met Peshawar Zalmi. Sharjeel Khan scored 117 from 62 balls, the first century scored in the Pakistan Super League. It proved to be the difference between the teams as United posted 176 for 3 and Zalmi were bowled out for 126 with two full overs to go. United, spinner Imran Khalid took four wickets for 20 runs and Andre Russell three for 37. The win took United through to the final against Quetta Gladiators.

The 2016 Pakistan Super League Final was won by Islamabed by six wickets.[9] United opted to bowl first after winning the toss and the Gladiators scored 174–7 in their 20 overs. Andre Russell, who finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, took three for 37. In reply United started well with Dwayne Smith scoring 73 runs and Brad Haddin with an unbeaten 61, allowing United to score 174 for four with eight balls remaining and winning the title alongside Cash Price of $500,000.[10][11]

Matches

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorecard Link
1	4 February	Quetta Gladiators	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Lost by 8 wickets, MoM – Mohammad Nawaz 4/13 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
2	5 February	Peshawar Zalmi	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Lost by 24 runs,MoM – Mohammad Asghar 3/21 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
3	7 February	Karachi Kings	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Won by 2 runs, MoM – Saeed Ajmal 3/27 (3 Overs)	Scorecard
4	10 February	Lahore Qalandars	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Won by 8 wickets,MoM – Sharjeel Khan 79*(43)	Scorecard
5	11 February	Quetta Gladiators	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Lost by 7 wickets, MoM – Grant Elliott 3/25 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
6	12 February	Peshawar Zalmi	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Lost by 7 wickets, MoM – Tamim Iqbal 80*(58)	Scorecard
7	14 February	Karachi Kings	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	Won by 5 wickets, MoM – Imran Khalid 2/19 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
8	17 February	Lahore Qalandars	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Won by 5 wickets, MoM – Mohammad Irfan 3/22 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
9	20 February	Karachi Kings(Eliminator)	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Won by 9 wickets, MoM – Mohammad Sami 5/8 (4 Overs)	Scorecard
10	21 February	Peshawar Zalmi (Qualifier 2)	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Won by 50 run, MoM – Sharjeel Khan 117(62)	Scoreard
11	23 February	Quetta Gladiators (Final)	Dubai International Cricket Stadium	Won by 6 wickets, MoM – Dwayne Smith 73(51)	Scoreard

• Quetta Gladiators in 2016
• Peshawar Zalmi in 2016
• Karachi Kings in 2016
• Lahore Qalandars in 2016