Iqbal Stadium was established in the early 1970s to accommodate the growing popularity of cricket in Faisalabad. Originally known as Lyallpur Stadium, it was renamed Iqbal Stadium in honor of Pakistan's
national poet,
Muhammad Iqbal. The stadium quickly became one of Pakistan's most important cricketing venues, hosting its first Test match in October 1978 between
Pakistan and
India. A modern and well-equipped cricket venue, it has suffered at the hands of weather conditions in the past. In 1998–99, the third Test against
Zimbabwe was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to thick fog. Poor visibility has also caused difficulty in playing especially during the winter. Since its inception, Iqbal Stadium has witnessed several historic cricketing moments, including famous Test matches involving Pakistan and international teams. An thrilling Test match was played between
South Africa and Pakistan in 1997–98, when the visitors bowled out the hosts for 92 runs, successfully defending a target of 142 on the final day. Then, in the 2004–05 season, Sanath Jayasuriya of
Sri Lanka scored 253 as his team romped to a 201-run victory. The ground is, however, most renowned for the on-field spat between
England captain
Mike Gatting and Pakistani
umpire Shakoor Rana during England's 1987–88 tour. While being the square-leg umpire, Rana had objected to Gatting waving his hand at another fielder while the bowler was running in. A fierce altercation followed, which led to a day being lost during the match and some long-lasting bad feeling between the teams. The issue forced the British Ambassador Sir Nicholas Barrington to get involved in order to de-escalate the situation and force an apology from the England captain. The stadium regularly hosted international matches until 2009, when all international cricket activities were suspended in Pakistan after
2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team. The stadium, however, continued hosting domestic matches.
Domestic tournaments The stadium hosted the
2011 and
2015 editions of the
Super 8 Twenty20 Cup. In 2016, four new
cricket pitches were added to take the total cricket pitches to nine. In September 2019, the
Pakistan Cricket Board named it as one of the venues for matches in the
2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. The stadium hosted the finals of the
National T20 Cup in
2019 and
2025. In August 2024, it was announced that the stadium would host all the matches of newly formulated domestic
2024–25 Champions One-Day Cup.
Return to international cricket In September 2024, the Pakistan Cricket Board revealed plans to upgrade the stadium to enable international matches to be hosted there. On April 30 2025, it was announced that international cricket will return to Iqbal Stadium after a gap of 17 years, with
Bangladesh touring Pakistan in May 2025. Iqbal Stadium was to host the first two
T20Is on 25 May and 27 May, but it did not host the matches due to certain reasons. Pakistan
hosted South Africa for three ODIs from 4 to 8 November 2025 at the Iqbal Stadium, the first ODI at the stadium in 17 years, with Pakistan having beaten Bangladesh by seven wickets at the venue on 11 April, 2008. ==Ground records==