P Krishna Kumar, Jammu and Kashmir’s bowling coach in Ranji Trophy, never doubted that Auqib Nabi Dar was the sharpest arrow in his quiver. But the warrior needed his charioteer to guide him with direction. “When I came to J&K as coach, it was evident Auqib had a beautiful natural bowling action, like Md Shami’s wrist position. But his outswinger needed variations for him to become effective. Not only is he a skilled bowler, he learns quickly,” coach Krishna says about the leading domestic wicket-taker, though it’s early days in the Ranji season – only two matches old.
Yet, his 17 wickets, including a 7/24 match haul against Rajasthan in the second round, and an average of 9.25, make Auqib a fast bowling talent, to sit up and take notice, if you can look past a speed gun and the fixation with 140 kph. Krishna puts Auqib’s range at “125 – 131 kph”, though the bowler who collected his third 5-wkt haul of 2025-26, including one in the Duleep Trophy, politely nudges decision-makers to consider the entirety of his skill-set. “I personally think if you have the skills, nobody is going to reject you for pace. Speed isn’t all-important, if I can deliver wickets, which is what teams need,” says the bowler from Baramulla.
Fitness and lifestyle changes have been initiated in his regimen to slowly pick up pace. “But let’s be honest, it won’t happen overnight. We can work on pace, my J&K bowlers have good strength anyway. We are arming them with skills in the meantime,” Krishna says, of the first-time quarterfinalists from last season.
Son of a school teacher in Kashmir, and good at academics, it had taken his selection at a talent hunt to convince his parents to let him play in his final year at U19s. As such, he was a terribly late starter. “Back then, there was no formal coaching really in Baramulla. Now things have changed. So I played my first real red-ball cricket only after 19,” he recalls, of the early days when T20s was all that cricketers around him played. “I happened to accompany a friend for state trials when I was picked.” Till that time, Dale Steyn videos were his virtual coach.
Much before he scythed through Mumbai’s heavy-duty batting last season, including snares of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube, the South African was his hero. “Just his aggression when bowling outswingers. I copied his action entirely. Recently, I admire Bumrah, an all-format bowler, and so, so skilled. Put him on any pitch, he has that attitude of ‘I will take wickets’,” Auqib says, though at his recent Duleep outing, he was very excited to bowl alongside Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana for North zone.
For someone who’s not been picked by an IPL team, the Ranji Trophy remains his only avenue, though he was built for red-ball rigour from the outset. “His early talent immediately visible is the wrist position at the time of release, ” Krishna explains. “But even his stamina was impressive. He could bowl 8-10 over spells at a stretch without losing intensity, and ticked the stamina box, because he logged in 20-25 overs a day. But most importantly, he was eager to learn,” Krishna says.
It’s strange, though, why no IPL team came calling, given his early brush with headlines was because of how he scored a 100 against Saurashtra in U23 as a night watchman, and could be relied upon to use the long handle, with proper cavalier carefreeness. In 2016, he had started his J&K stint with a fifer against Punjab colts, though his red ball skills were honed only in the last 2-3 years.
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His haul of 30-35 wickets before Krishna joined two years ago has doubled now. “Outswing” was his stock option. But we taught him in-swing, and I’ve been a coach for close to 20 years. This is the fastest I’ve seen anyone pick the trade. It takes two years at least. He trained so hard on it, he learnt very fast,” the coach says.
Very early in his U23 stint, he picked up a few tricks from another Indian bowler. “Growing up, there was no one from Baramulla per se. Irfan Pathan came for a while to Kashmir, so I learnt a few things. But Krishna Sir has helped a lot to add variations,” he says.
On his finest outing against Rajasthan this last week, Auqib claimed Mahipal Lomror with what he dubs his favourite dismissal. Bowling round the wicket to the left-hander, it swung wickedly, held up, and went through the gate. “I can’t do much about not being in the IPL. I will just keep doing what I have to do. Take wickets. Win for J&K,” he says.
While bowling on one spot might be simple advice, the discipline needed to turn nagging is something Auqib has nurtured in his mind. “His wrist position is tough for batsmen to pick. But he used to bowl away from the stump. We urged him to bowl closer so he was better aligned. He picked up stump to stump bowling very quickly,” he says.
The 131 kph is not to be mocked, because Krishna says he can be a handful with his variations and the effect he has on batsmen. “I know everyone wants 140. But look at Bumrah, he succeeds because of his ability to move the ball both ways. If he can swing and pitch in the right areas, he has that ability against top teams. We need to work more with him, but why have the Ranji Trophy if you are going to ignore bowlers for not being in the IPL?” the coach questions.
While he got Ajinkya Rahane last season with an outswinger, it was India opener Jaiswal whom he set up with the variation. “You can call it a very basic trick, not some grand setup. 2-3 outswingers, followed by one that swung in,” he recalls.
From where he lives in Baramulla, the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium at Sonwar Bagh is 60 km away. Auqib Nabi has spent a lot of those long journeys ruminating over his cricket, gulping down the delayed opportunities and hoping for big breaks. Then he’s unwound all that taut tension on the pitch and unleashed it on batsmen. It’s early in snow season, but Auqib knows the crunch beneath his feet feels good this year. He’s only just revving up.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan 152 and 89 all out in 29.5 overs (Hooda 28; Nabi 7/24) lost to Jammu and Kashmir 282 by an innings and 41 runs.
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