Khulna Titans sign up Kyle Abbott for BPL’s 5th edition

Former South African fast bowler Kyle Abbott has been brought by the Khulna Titans for the Bangladesh Premier League’s fifth edition that is all set to roll later this year. With this inclusion, the Titans now have seven foreign players in their franchise for the upcoming season.

These include 3 cricketers from Pakistan – Junaid Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed and Shadab Khan, Australia’s power hitter Chris Lynn, South African duo of Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw and Sri Lanka’s Seekkugge Prasanna.

Abbott was an important and regular bowler in South Africa’s limited-overs cricket. However, he could not convert his ODI success in the longer format of the game.  He announced his retirement from international cricket in January this year and shifted to England on a Kolpak deal to play for the Hampshire County Cricket Club.

For the Hampshire County Cricket Club this season, the pacer took 38 wickets at an average of 18.18 which also includes three five-wicket hauls and is also the second leading wicket taker. His outing with the bat was also decent as from 11 innings he scored 335 runs which included two half centuries.

Abbott will be playing alongside his former South African teammate Rilee Rossouw in this BPL. Interestingly, Rossouw is Abbott’s Hampshire teammate as well.

A brief but decent career 

Overall in his career, he played 21 T20s, 28 ODIs and 11 Tests, in which he took 99 wickets in total.

“Known for his his ability to swing the ball and bowl yorkers at the death overs, he can hit the ball a long way too and is considered to be a useful batsman lower down the order,” Titans wrote on their Facebook page.

“Khulna Titans are pleased to announce that the South African quick bowler Kyle Abbott will be joining the team in this year’s BPL 2017!”

Bangladesh Premier League is slowly trying to create a niche for itself and receive global views.