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WATCH: Punjab Kings star pacer Kagiso Rabada recreates Pushpa iconic scene

Punjab Kings star pacer Kagiso Rabada joined the squad after his national team commitments. Here's how PBKS announced him.

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Kagiso Rabada pulls off a Pushpa

Kagiso Rabada pulls off a Pushpa (Source: Twitter)

Kagiso Rabada from South Africa has joined Punjab Kings, a side that is dominating the Indian Premier League 2023 with two victories in as many games. KG, one of the most feared fast bowlers in the world, will compete in the IPL for the Punjab franchise for the second straight year.

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Punjab Kings announced Kagiso Rabada's addition to the team via a brief video of him performing the recognisable Pushpa sloping shoulder pose made popular by actor Allu Arjun. They wrote, "Flower nahi, fire hai KG!" as the caption.

Here's the viral video:

Punjab Kings will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023

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On Sunday, IPL 2023's Match No. 14 will feature Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Shikhar Dhawan's Punjab Kings (April 9). In the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, there will be a contest between PBKS, who have won their last two games, and SRH, who have lost their first two games.

The team from Mohali will try to complete the hat-trick of victories and take the top spot in the IPL 2023 points standings. South African bowler Kagiso Rabada will be available for selection in this game for the losers of the IPL finals in 2014.

Due to national team commitments, the 27-year-old pacer could not play in the first two matches. Nathan Ellis was chosen to fill in for him, and in the most recent game against the Rajasthan Royals, he demonstrated why he was selected by getting four wickets.

In the IPL, a team can only deploy four foreign players during a game. For PBKS's first few matches, those four foreign players were Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sikandar Raza, Ellis, and Sam Curran. Rabada is expected to enter the starting lineup immediately, so either Raza or Rajapaksa will need to make room for him.

The South African pacer, who took home the Orange Cap in IPL 2020, concluded the 2022 season as PBKS's top wicket-taker. He will now attempt to top Lasith Malinga's IPL record in his opening game of the 2023 season. Rabada, who has 99 wickets after 63 games played so far, can surpass Malinga's record on Sunday and become the league's quickest bowler to reach 100 wickets. Malinga, who holds the No. 3 spot on the list of all-time leading wicket-takers with 170 scalps, needed 70 innings to reach his century of IPL wickets.

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