Nicknamed ‘The Heater’, Abdulla who lives a stone throw away from Kingsmead turned on the heat by removing all four foreign internationals Jesse Ryder, Jacques Kallis, Kevin Pietersen and Ross Taylor .The icing on the cake was the wicket of former Durbanite and current England star Kevin Pietersen, who only lasted two balls as Abdulla set him up with two brilliant deliveries.

“When he walked in, I thought that I should try the short ball because he won’t be expecting it. Then walking back to my run up, I decided that I should now try the slower ball and it worked to perfection,” said Abdulla.

Abdulla has a reputation of being a one day specialist in South Africa and finally had a chance of showing his talent without the weather interrupting his rhythm. He only bowled a total of three overs in previous two games that were decided by the Duckworth/Lewis method.

“It was nice to bowl my full quota of overs for a change. Our first two games were interrupted so I could not get into a rhythm, bowl a few overs up front and come back later to bowl again,” he said

A late signing as a replacement for the injured Jerome Taylor, Abdulla was bought for a bargain of USD 25 000   and is enjoying his first experience of the IPL.

“It’s great to play with such internationals as Yuvraj (Singh), Kumar (Sangakkara) and Mahela (Jayawardene). They back me, know my abilities and allow me to be myself. I also have the full support of the coach. I don’t feel any pressure knowing these things which allows me to bowl the way I normally do. There’s also no room for much error because as we have seen, players from all the teams despatch even the great bowlers for huge sixes so we have to put the ball in the right places. This will also improve my game as well,” he added.

The 26 year old was born in Johannesburg and later moved to Dundee, a small town in Northern Natal. He stopped playing cricket for a while but was spotted by a talent scout and taken to Pietermaritzburg about 40 minutes from Durban. He then got selected for the Natal Inland Team before making his debut for the Dolphins in the 2005/06 season.

He was rewarded for his fine form in the domestic T20 Competition by making his debut against Australia in March and claimed the prized wicket of Ricky Ponting.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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