Yusuf Abdullah, the South African pace bowler, will be joining the King's XI Punjab squad to replace the injured West Indies pace bowler Jerome Taylor for the upcoming second season of the IPL.

Speaking on this, an elated Abdullah said, “I'm quite excited about the upcoming challenge. The IPL is in town and this is a good opportunity for me, hopefully I can do well.”

The 26 year old left arm bowler made an inspiring international debut for South Africa in a twenty20 international against Australia last week. At present, Abdulla is one of the most in-formed bowler for the South African team in domestic competition. He has already played 26 T20 matches.

Commenting over Abdullah inclusion in the team, Kings XI Punjab Co-Promoter, Ness Wadia said, “We are excited to have Yusuf as part of our squad, as he will bring with him the local knowledge and experience of playing in a T20 format in South Africa.”

Earlier this year, the King’s XI had picked pace bowler Taylor. However, he has been ruled out of the IPL after sustaining an injury from a car accident.

It can be recalled that Kings XI's pace battery is suffering from injury problems. Taylor is the third on its injury list after S. Sreesanth and Aussie fast bowler Brett Lee, who is recovering from a foot injury.

Apart from this, the Punjab team has also signed up Dave Nosworthy, head coach of the Lions, to assist coach Tom Moody.