In 2015, the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that the inaugural season of the
Pakistan Super League would take place in February 2016 in the
United Arab Emirates. On 3 December 2015, the PCB unveiled the owners of five city-based franchises. The Islamabad franchise was sold to Leonine Global Sports for US$15 million for a ten-year period. In November 2025, following the conclusion of the original contract, the franchise renewed its rights for another decade (2026–2035). The renewal followed a league-wide valuation by
Ernst & Young, which shifted the financial model from US dollars to
Pakistani Rupees. Under the new agreement, the annual franchise fee for Islamabad United was set at .
2016 season: Champions After a poor start to the
2016 Pakistan Super League, 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 of 111 in the 15th over. 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 three and Zalmi were bowled out for 126 with two full overs remaining. 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 Islamabad by six wickets. 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 an unbeaten 61, helping United to 174 for four with eight balls remaining and winning the title.
2017 season In the
2017 Pakistan Super League players draft, United retained 17 players from their previous squad. The team picked
Ben Duckett,
Zohaib Khan and
Shadab Khan to complete their 20 men squad. Later
Steven Finn replaced
Andre Russell after he was banned for a year for doping breach.
Ben Duckett was replaced by
Nicholas Pooran after Duckett left the squad ahead of play-offs due to national duties. Islamabad United played the inaugural game of the 2017 season against
Peshawar Zalmi, which they managed to win by seven wickets and thus continuing their winning streak from last season. In the following game, however, they lost to
Lahore Qalandars by six wickets after posting 158 on the board. Misbah top-scored for United through his unbeaten innings of 61 off 36 balls that included five sixes. As the tournament shifted to
Sharjah, United continued to rebuild their campaign by handing
Quetta Gladiators their first loss of the season. Chasing 149, they managed to do so at a loss of five wickets with 5-balls to spare.
Sam Billings was the top-scorer with his aggressive knock of 78 from 50 balls. But in the following game against table-bottoms,
Karachi Kings, United lost by 8-runs through the
Duckworth-Lewis method. This came about after they posted 90 runs in their allotted 13 overs in a rain-marred game that was abandoned after 9.4 overs in the second innings. However, continuing on, United won a thrilling last-ball win against Peshawar Zalmi.
Dwayne Smith was instrumental in his team's chase of 137 runs as he scored 72 off 59 balls after United's bowlers had earlier restricted the opposition to a below-par score. Following this victory, however, the team lost to
Lahore Qalandars by one wicket in a tense game. Batting first, United had difficulties in building their innings and were at one time 83–6. But the team's emerging player,
Shadab Khan, scored 42 off 24 balls to get United to a respectable total of 145 which almost proved match-winning. With the tournament moving back to
Dubai, United registered a thrilling win against Quetta Gladiators. After putting up a total of 166, the team was staring at almost certain defeat after the Gladiators were 148 for the loss of just one wicket at the 16th over. However, after a flurry of wickets and the inability of the opposition batsmen to finish the game, United prevailed by one run. This win also ensured the team of a play-off spot. Just like
last year, Islamabad again faced Karachi in the eliminator. In what proved to be a thrilling game, Karachi, batting first, scored a measly 126 getting all out in the process. Islamabad was set to win and qualify for the second play off. However, that was not the case as the second innings proved. The Karachi bowlers outshone the Islamabad batsmen with
Mohammad Amir,
Imad Wasim and
Usama Mir each picking up three wickets. Islamabad were all out for a mere 82 runs, their lowest in the tournament and the then second-lowest in the tournament's history. Hence, the defending champions were knocked out.
2018 season : Champions United started their 2018 season with a loss to
Peshawar Zalmi. Chasing a target of 176, the team was reduced to 25-4 inside the
powerplay before falling short by 34 runs in their allotted overs. The team rebounded in the next game, against
Multan Sultans, by winning it with five wickets spare.
Hussain Talat's unbeaten innings of 48 runs was instrumental in United's chase of 114 in difficult batting conditions. As the league stage shifted to
Sharjah, the team lost to
Quetta Gladiators by six wickets as they failed to defend the 135-run target. United's key player and vice-captain,
Rumman Raees, suffered a knee injuring during the match that has put his availability for the rest of the season in jeopardy. However, the next game, the team bounced back and won a thriller against
Lahore Qalandars. The match went down to the
Super Over as United managed to restrict the Qalandars to a level score of 121 during the initial innings. The Super Over target of 16 runs, in turn, was surmounted by a last ball six from
Andre Russell. In the next game, the team ended the unbeaten run of
Karachi Kings by beating them by 8 wickets in the chase of 154 runs.
Luke Ronchi's aggressive innings of 71 (37) was the cornerstone of the victory. This meant that the team had qualified for the final. In the
final, Islamabad United won the match against Peshawer Zalmi after they chased a target of 149. Peshawar Zalmi won the toss and elected to bat first. Peshawar's in-form batsman
Kamran Akmal was out
lbw for one run off eight balls, with
Samit Patel taking the wicket in the third over early on.
Shadab Khan's three wickets restricted Peshawar to 148 runs. Islamabad's
Luke Ronchi hit five sixes in the first five overs as he raced to 45 runs off just 15 balls, before he got out in the ninth over after scoring a 26-ball 52 in the second innings. By the time, Ronchi and
Sahibzada Farhan - who played his own part with 44 runs off 33 balls - had put on 96 runs for the opening partnership in under nine overs. But a sudden collapse resulted in Islamabad losing six wickets for 20 runs leaving them at 116/6. The winning runs were scored by
Faheem Ashraf who hooked Wahab Riaz for six with just one run required. They then went on to lose their next two games against
Multan Sultans by five wickets and
Quetta Gladiators by seven wickets, respectively. In the next game against
Peshawar Zalmi, Being sent to bat first, the defending champions were 49–3 at one stage before
Ian Bell and
Cameron Delport put on 56 runs which helped the team post a competitive total of 158 for nine in 20 overs. In the chase of 158, Zalmi were reeling at 65 for five at one stage.
Kieron Pollard and
Darren Sammy steadied the team with their 55-run partnership. Zalmi hopes of winnings were dashed after Pollard departed after scoring 51 runs. In the end, Islamabad managed to win by 12 runs after captain
Mohammad Sami's hat-trick in the last over. Regular Captain Mohammad Sami was out injured and young
Shadab Khan had to lead the team for the first time. However, this did not stop United from building their winning run as they won against
Karachi Kings pretty easily in the end, thanks to
Luke Ronchi's 35 balls 67 runs that won him Man of the Match award. In the next fixture against Multan they had a very bad day, batting first they were bowled out for 121 runs and losing the match by six wickets. However, they won their next match against Kings. Kings started well with the bat and at one stage were looking to set a total over 200, but United bowlers bowled really well during the death overs to restrict Kings on 168 runs, mainly due to
Faheem Ashraf and
Rumman Raees. They started off well with the bat but few quite overs during the middle part of the innings meant United were in trouble, but thanks to
Asif Ali who hit Kings bowlers to all parts of the ground, scoring 70 runs from 38 balls to ensure that United chase down the target with four balls to spare.
2020 season Ahead of the season,
Pakistan men's national team head coach and chief selector
Misbah-ul-Haq was named as head coach, replacing
Dean Jones who coached the team from the first season till the fourth season.
Shadab Khan was named as the captain of the team, with that he became the youngest captain in PSL history.
2021 season In the
2021 Pakistan Super League,
Islamabad United were led by captain
Shadab Khan and coached by
Johan Botha. The team finished
first in the league stage, demonstrating consistent performances across the group matches. They qualified for the playoffs but were eliminated in the semi-final, finishing
third overall.
Colin Munro was the leading run-scorer for the team, while
Hasan Ali led the bowling attack. Their standout match was a dominant win against
Lahore Qalandars where
Munro scored a quick 72
* to chase down a challenging total.
2022 season In the
2022 Pakistan Super League,
Islamabad United, captained by
Shadab Khan and coached by
Azhar Mahmood, finished
third in the league stage and qualified for the playoffs. They were eliminated in the playoff round, finishing
third overall.
Alex Hales scored the most runs for the team with 355, while
Shadab Khan led the wickets tally with 19. The team’s standout performance came in a thrilling league-stage win against
Karachi Kings, where
Hales’ aggressive 88 runs guided
United to a narrow victory.
2023 season 2024 season 2025 season 2026 season ==Team identity==