South African Kyle Abbott made his first-class debut for KwaZulu-Natal in 2009 as a right-arm medium pace bowler and quickly grabbed eyeballs with three wickets. Abbott has also represented the South African A side and is a vital cog in the Dolphins squad. He impressed with eight wickets in ten games for the Dolphins in the 2011-12 MiWAY T20 Challenge. Following this, the talented cricketer was called up along with Australian Ben Cutting for the 2012 IPL to represent the Kings XI Punjab, as replacements for injured players R Sathish and Stuart Broad.