Hubballi, Feb 26 (.) There are some cricketers who speak in bursts of fire, and then there are those who speak as they bowl – measured, thoughtful, unhurried. Auqib Nabi belongs decidedly to the latter school.
For him, this Ranji Trophy final is not wrapped merely in the urgency of five days’ cricket. It is wrapped in memory.
“Ever since I first represented Jammu & Kashmir, it has been my dream to win a trophy for J&K, especially in red-ball cricket,” he said quietly. “Since childhood, we have played without winning a trophy. So this means a lot.”
And in that simple admission lies the emotional pulse of Jammu & Kashmir’s campaign – a team not merely contesting a Ranji final, but attempting to alter their own cricketing folklore.
Nabi’s bowling, much like his words, is built on understatement rather than extravagance. On a surface that appeared generous to batsmen, he chose the virtues of patience and geometry.
“There was a bit of help on the first day. The idea was to keep bowling in good areas. Just hit the right channel and be patient,” he explained.
There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about that philosophy. No theatrics, no elaborate mystery – just seam upright, wrist high, and the quiet insistence that if you ask enough honest questions of a batsman, eventually one will elicit the wrong answer.
“If your wrist is upright, everything becomes easier. The ball moves in and out from the wrist. It’s very important for a fast bowler,” he said, offering a craftsman’s insight into his trade. Without a shadow of doubt, Auqib Nabi finished with incisive figures of 3 for 32 from his 14 overs.
Jammu & Kashmir’s formidable first-innings total, comfortably beyond the 500-mark, has given their bowlers both cushion and conviction.
“We were looking at around 550. Anything above 500 is a good total. If we can bowl them out before they reach that, it’s even better,” Nabi observed with calm assurance. The team piled on 584 in their first innings.
What stands out, perhaps more than the wickets themselves, is his clarity of mind. Fifty-eight wickets this season are not gathered by accident. They are accumulated by repetition, discipline and a refusal to be distracted.
“I’ve worked a lot on my skills, with coaches and alone. More importantly, I’ve kept a positive mindset and stopped thinking too much about results,” he said. KL Rahul, Karun Nair and Smaran Ravichandran – all established and in fine form- were prised out by Nabi in a spell that shifted the balance of the contest.
Even the much-anticipated duels with established names did not disturb his equilibrium. “My mindset is not to focus on the batter but on what I can control. I focus on my bowling.”
There speaks a young fast bowler who understands that cricket, at its highest level, is less about confrontation and more about control – of length, of line, of emotion.
As the final unfolds, one senses that for Nabi this is about more than figures in a scorebook. It is about fulfilling a childhood vision, about placing Jammu & Kashmir’s name upon a trophy that once felt distant.
And should that dream come to pass, it will not be through noise or bravado – but through the quiet, persistent hum of a seam perfectly aligned.
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