Bowled 1000 balls in a year: The making of J&K speedgun Auqib Nabi

Hubbali, March 25 — While the Jammu & Kashmir dressing-room hums with first-time-final nerves, Auqib Nabi sits quietly in a corner, the calm eye of a historic storm. On Tuesday, when the team walks out for its maiden Ranji Trophy summit clash against Karnataka, every gaze in the stadium will drift, sooner or later, to the 25-year-old paceman from Sheeri village in Baramulla.

The numbers explain the attention. Nine matches this season, 55 wickets, average 12.72 — only one bowler has taken more. Add a career haul of 199 wickets from 40 first-class games and the portrait of a strike force emerges.

Bowling coach P. Krishnakumar, who has guided Nabi for the past three seasons, traces the surge to a single, gruelling year of reconstruction. “He bowled a thousand balls in the first year to develop his skills, master his wrist position, his back-spin. It took almost one year to change him,” Krishnakumar told IANS. “Now he knows how to move the ball, bowl on different pitches, against different batters. The skill level has gone to a different plane.”

The remodel was built on what the coach calls a biomechanically “perfect” action, a smooth release that marries seam and swing and leaves scorers idle. The transformation has been relentless: 99 wickets in the last two seasons, 50-plus already in this campaign, capped by a nine-wicket demolition of Bengal in the semi-final and a counter-attacking 42 with the bat.

Career-best figures of 7 for 24 against Rajasthan and match-turning bursts versus Delhi have carried J&K from peripheral hopefuls to title contenders. Krishnakumar believes the next step is national. “Taking almost 100 wickets in two years — what more do you want as a player? If somebody is performing, they should definitely get into the team.”

For Nabi, once used to training on rudimentary village strips, the final is another chapter in an improbable journey. A self-confessed Dale Steyn fan, he made his Ranji debut in 2020 but has flourished since the coaching overhaul, retaining an unruffled core that, according to Krishnakumar, is worth as much as the wickets. “If he takes a six-for, he’s still the same. That calm is very important.”

Karnataka’s star-studded top order will test that composure, yet the man who bowled a thousand balls to hone one dream is unlikely to blink. Jammu & Kashmir has never been here before; Auqib Nabi intends to make sure they stay awhile.