Abbas started his professional career in Pakistan and played professional hockey in Malaysia, Netherlands, Germany and India in his career most notably for Dutch side HC Rotterdam. After representing Pakistan at junior levels Abbas made his international debut in the Test series against India in February 1998. He scored his first senior international goal in the second match of the series in a 2-1 win. Abbas has 350 caps for Pakistan and in which he scored 348 goals including 21 hat-tricks an international record. He has represented his country at 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIH Hockey World Cups and the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics being the top scorer for Pakistan at both the World Cups and Olympics.