No IPL contract, no India A spot but J&K’s Auqib Nabi Dar is making a name for himself | Cricket News

Auqib Nabi Dar grew up playing tennis ball cricket in Baramulla, Kashmir, on grounds where speedsters just couldn’t use spikes. Elite cricket is high-maintenance and hallowed that way. When his feet couldn’t turn into hot wheels, the J&K pacer set off honing his wr-work and ended up with one of the smoothest and deceptively jumbling mix of inswingers and outswingers, working his way out to snare wickets with the new ball and old.All through this self-motivated upskilling, he kept in mind what his seniors at the humble Baramulla Cricket Club told him when the cricket dream looked dant: “Work in silence. Never talk back. Show them what you are when playing, because nobody can stop you on the run-up.”
With 42 wickets this season alone – almost half his career-tally of 85 – the 28-year-old has become J&aK’s highest wicket taker, surpassing Parvez Rasool, since debuting in 2016 with impressive consency of 6 five-fors in this campaign.
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He has endured early injuries, limited facilities in development years, indifference from ‘India A’ consideration and complete silence from IPL teams in auctions, with franchises unwilling to even look at him. But when he lined up for J&K’s quarterfinal against Kerala at Pune, he decided to focus on the task ahead and set aside all past struggles.
“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 after taking 5-36 in a strangling tandem alongside Umar Nazir (they bowled 6 maidens each) as Kerala were restricted to 200/9 responding to J&K’s 280.
Auqib can take some solid credit for taking J&K’s middling 210/8 and elevating it to a chunkier 280 because he turned up at No.10 and gave a dull Sunday morning its crisp espresso fix with a 30-ball 32 with 2 boundaries and 1 chunky six. Like Mark Knopfler would’ve crooned, “Oh yeah, the boy can play.”
Kerala were mildly bewildered, as he routinely charged the bowlers, coolly taking three unrushed strides down the pitch and tonking gloriously away. Against Kerala’s competent quicks, it was frankly audacious. But they had ceded 60-odd before they realised what to do with this Mad Max, strutting into the storm.Story continues below this ad
What his team know Auqib for though, is his serene silence. He simply doesn’t like talking much. Even during his aggressive bowling spell and batting counters, there’s none of the lippy talk going on. He’s taken after his idol Dale Steyn and Jasprit Bumrah, in that sense. But he doesn’t even smile, so the business-like silence where batsmen being evicted is incidental, is even more menacing.
Kerala opener Rohan Kunnummal prodded at an out-swinging delivery, and was gone the second ball. Shoun Roger lasted just 5 deliveries without scoring, and was gone to an incoming one while stuck in the crease caught the keeper. Auqib would return for a late afternoon spell to send back the dangerous and well-set Jalaj Saxena (67 off 78), and complete the five, clean bowling Nedumankuzhy Basil. But it was Sachin Ba’s wicket on 2 (15) that will stay imprinted on minds. It was a peach of a yorker nailing Kerala’s best batter and captain, as they were left tottering at 11/3. “We are in quarters after a long time. Performing here is a big thing,” he said, when asked if he fretted over non inclusion in India A’s.
Saxena had sent two sixes surfing to the same fine leg spot earlier on, where he was eventually trapped, as the rising ball rushed on him two clicks faster. Auqib’s set-ups tend to focus on silently nuancing pace to lull and lure into lethality. He celebrates wickets alright, but the confidence comes from how coach Pudiyangum Krishnakumar keeps saying positive things to him, despite errors. Like, knowing, he’s never going to give up on Auqib. “Rest is just bowling in the right places,” he says.
His batting aggression also came from the coaches telling him to go berserk – knowing a statement of intent needed to be made in the first hour when bowlers had suffocated J&K top order yesterday. “Coach said, Go attack.” Auqib merely freed his long levers.Story continues below this ad
Early promise
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 lens and learns,” informs manager Hilal Ahmed.
In his U19s debut, he quietened some loud Punjab opponents with 5 wickets and a 50. Against Saurashtra colts, he was sent at the fall of two 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 recalls simply.
He started cricket following friends, but never knowing the real magic of a leather ball. “We never played with the 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 says of 40 wickets in 6 seasons, and 44 in this one alone.
He quietly plays in the Karnataka local league, and when back home, gathers around youngsters to bat and bowl against. “He won’t sit at home idle, nor waste time ruing,” Ahmed says.Story continues below this ad
His father, a government teacher, wanted him to study. “Initially they were opposed to cricket and would yell because I was good at studies.” There was talk of studying medicine. The day he scored 100 vs Saurashtra and the press landed at his home, his father was a convert. “He told the media – Mera nechu (son) India khelke aaega. Aap likho.”

It hasn’t quite happened yet. But you never know what that famous silence is quietly brewing. Five Kerala wickets bubbled over, at any rate.