When Auqib Nabi’s father had told local media – ‘Mera nechu (son) India khelke aaega. Aap likho’

Cricket had hardly been an easy pivot, not when he came from Baramulla. Auqib grew up playing tennis ball cricket in the valley district of Kashmir, on fields where speedsters just couldn’t use spikes. He started cricket following friends, but never knowing how to bowl with a leather ball, an art he has been mastering last three years. “We never played hard ball. The ground wasn’t good enough to wear spikes. Just tennis ball. Red ball mindset took time. Now we’ve played lots of red ball cricket. That’s the change,” he had said of his 44-wickets last season. That brings his Ranji tally to 104 over two consistent years, and 12 5-fers across two Ranji seasons, 6 apiece.

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Because the spikes couldn’t get him revving, he focussed on wrist skills – watching Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and copying Dale Steyn. something coach Pudiyangum Krishnakumar, focussed on, likening his wrist action to Mohammed Shami.

But well before that, his self-motivated upskilling went on, watched over by his seniors at the humble Baramulla Cricket Club who told him when the cricket dream looked distant: “Work in silence. Never talk back. Show them what you are when playing, because nobody can stop you on the run-up.”

It wasn’t smooth sailing before he was included in the squad as he endured early injuries, limited facilities in development years, indifference from ‘India A’ consideration and complete silence (which hurt him like an erasure) from IPL teams in auctions, with franchises unwilling to even look at him. This year, he has a fat IPL contract with Delhi Capitals, and has moved up to play for North Zone at least.

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“There are struggles, but I won’t talk about them. Playing red ball cricket was a dream. Right now, Ranji is my biggest stage,” he would say last year. That dream is complete. His ability to not let rejection daunt him and an enveloping confidence of his J&K team at age 29, makes him a resilient hero. “We are in quarters after a long time. Performing here is a big thing,” he said last year, when asked if he fretted over his non inclusion in India A’s. Coach Krishna had vowed to never give up on him even when critics cited his 130-135 speed cap, with the coach adding that his skills were superlative and the pace would only enhance them. Wickets kept coming. “Rest is just bowling in the right places,” Auqib had said, a sentiment he repeated after winning the final.

Baramulla hadn’t seen anyone like him in U19s, and his trials were actually used to spread the word around of a prodigious bowler, who didn’t need speed (though he could crank it up), to clatter stumps. The cutters were exquisite. A good crowd came, just to be awed. “He’s natural. His skills are god-gifted. He learnt early from Baramulla club mates to take everything from criticism to praise with silence. He’s shy basically, but he listens and learns,” recalled manager Hilal Ahmed last year.

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In his U19s debut, he had quietened some loud Punjab opponents with 5 wickets and a 50. Against Saurashtra colts, he was sent at the fall of 2 quick wickets, and he slammed a 100. “We had been fielding for a day and a half. So when I got to batting, I scored a 100,” he had said. This year, MP, Bengal and Delhi were at the receiving end after last year’s Mumbai and Baroda.

Last year, Auqib Nabi’s neighbour Shaikh Gulzar was at Pune, a travelling army of 5 fans from his family, to cheer on Jammu and Kashmir. The textiles merchant from Baramulla said he worked hard for 11 months and took off on a vacation for 1 month to follow his state team. He would sit in the stands and puff with pride when the J&K cordon screamed “ca_kar bowling” (roughly ‘lets go’). But the best cue to describe Auqib was, “khhauw-raas” hissed with a menace – signalling a yorker, about to be unleashed, and imminently incoming. Earlier, even the Jammu folk in the team didn’t get that code. The stumps did the singing,like Karun Nair would know. “And then the batsman knows,” the fan would chuckle.

But the biggest stealth move in retrospect or simply Auqib going under the radar – was how in his early years, he quietly played in the Karnataka local league to polish his skills on the plains. Hubbali wasn’t the first centre he had rocked with his accurate scorchers. Though when back in Baramulla, he would gather around youngsters to bat and bowl against. “He won’t sit at home idle, nor waste time rueing,” Ahmed had said.

Somewhere in the distance, the air crackled with an India call-up just as his father had predicted.