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Auqib bowled 10.1 overs for North Zone on Friday and picked up five wickets for 28 runs.
North Zone’s Auqib Nabi shows the ball after taking a five-wicket haul. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Auqib Nabi Dar, a 28-year-old fast bowler from Jammu & Kashmir, picked up five wickets for 28 runs in 10.1 overs for North Zone on Friday (August 29) in their first innings of the Duleep Trophy 2025 quarterfinal match against East Zone. Of his five wickets, four came in back-to-back balls.
After taking a memorable hat-trick for the North Zone in the premier domestic competition during the second day’s play in Bengaluru, Auqib expressed his desire to play Test cricket for India.
The cricketer from Baramulla in Kashmir, who played cricket with limited resources during his early days, while speaking to ESPN Cricinfo after the end of the second day’s play, said, “Jab aapka goal India ke liye khelna ho, toh ye sab matter nahi karta. (If your goal is to play for India, these things don’t matter). It doesn’t matter if you have limited resources. You have to use them. You can’t make excuses. You have to keep improving if you want to play for your country. And that’s my goal… to wear the India whites.”
Auqib, who failed to take any wicket in his first eight overs of the match on Friday, opened his wicket account by breaching Virat Singh’s defence on the fourth ball of the 53rd over of East Zone’s innings. The Jharkhand batter scored 69 runs from 102 balls. On the next ball, Auqib trapped Manishi in front of the wickets and then completed his hat-trick by shattering Mukhtar Hussain’s wickets.
On the first ball of his next over, he accounted for the dismissal of Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal. Jaiswal was caught by Kanhaiya Wadhawan after making 10 runs from 34 balls.
“When we went into the tea break, the coaches told us that it’s all gone a bit flat, so they asked us to show some enthusiasm, and that’s what we did,” Nabi said.
“I am feeling very good. This is a rare record, four in four, but more importantly, I got my team a first-innings lead.”
“When I started my spell, I was bowling well. I beat the bat a number of times, and I felt I was a bit unlucky. I try and pick up wickets; if that doesn’t work, I try and contain the batters. Today, I just tried to put the ball in one place, and it worked. There was a nice breeze blowing across the ground in the evening, and I got help from that.”
Apart from making headlines for his bowling on Friday, Nabi impressed with his batting as well. He came out to No. 9 for North Zone and scored 44 runs from just 33 balls. His knock included five fours and two sixes.
Speaking about his knock, Auqib said, “When you bat well, it helps build your confidence and carries it forward. It shows in your bowling and fielding. It (my innings) was crucial for the team. I work a lot on my batting. I practice a lot.”
Auqib’s super show with the ball also impressed Arshdeep Singh on Friday. The left-arm pacer from Punjab, who is also playing for North Zone in the first quarterfinal match of the Duleep Trophy 2025, said, “I had not seen Nabi bowl earlier. The first time I saw him was at the (North Zone) nets, and I think in his first ten balls, he must have taken some seven wickets. That’s when I realised, This lad is special.”
“The ball comes out of his hand really nicely. The work he has put in in domestic cricket – everyone has seen it today. I think he will take a lot of wickets in the future as well,” he added.
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