New Delhi: Before the final, Auqib Nabi couldn’t sleep like he usually did. He kept thinking about history being on the line, going to the ground and celebrating. And he may have brought Jammu & Kashmir close to that dream.
It was a nearly flat track in Hubballi. The kind where batters settle down and cash in. Karnataka’s batting order, on paper, looks like it could eat any attack alive. Yet even before the team travelled, J&K bowling coach P Krishna Kumar had made a quiet, assured prediction.
“We are confident that we will take 20 wickets,” he told HT. It was not bluster or self-hype. It was belief in his bowling attack and most of all, in its spearhead Nabi.
From the moment he ran in on the third day, there was a shift in tempo. On a pitch where the opposition quicks had struggled to create chances, Nabi’s start immediately stood out. And at Stumps on Day 3 with Karnataka at 220/5, he had picked up 3/32.
The Baramulla pacer has dominated the discourse around J&K this season by leading the wicket-taker tally but if there were still any doubts about his ability, his giant-killing spell that gobbled up Karnataka’s star-studded line-up will compel selectors to look at him more seriously, if they aren’t already.
Krishna Kumar has long argued that assumptions around pace have worked against his spearhead, even amongst selectors.
“People just assume that because he bowls at 129-135kmph, he cannot take wickets,” he told HT before the match. “But we have played on flat wickets also. He has taken five wickets there also.”
He started with back-to-back maiden overs to KL Rahul, who will soon be his teammate at Delhi Capitals. Not defensive, persistently bowling in the corridor of uncertainty, not probing without purpose but attacking the stumps and, more importantly, forcing him to play at every delivery.
If the spell to Rahul set the tone, the delivery to Karun Nair was momentous. On a surface offering little assistance, Nabi produced an almost unplayable beauty from over the wicket, angling it in. After pitching, it straightened and seamed away just enough and Nair played it down its original line, but the ball swished past the outside edge and shattered the off-stump.
Just moments later, he rocked Karnataka once again. R Smaran, the highest run-scorer of the season, was sent back for a golden duck. It was a back of a length delivery in the off-stump channel from round the wicket that Smaran edged.
The other doubt about Nabi was that he is bowling on green-tops.
Krishna Kumar points out that in the semi-final, on a track where Bengal had piled up 325 runs in the first innings, Nabi picked up 5/87. In the second innings, J&K bowled them out for 99 and Nabi picked up a crucial 4/36. “On the third day, after two days of mowing and rolling, we bowled them out in 23 overs. Nabi picked up four,” he said. “That means the bowler has ability.”
On Thursday, against players with international pedigree, Nabi did not rely on exaggerated pace or extravagant movement. Instead, he relied on discipline, seam position and relentless accuracy.
Nabi has picked up 58 wickets in this season alone. In the last two years in Ranji Trophy, he has picked up a total of 102 wickets so far. And not just in red-ball cricket. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he picked up 14 wickets at an economy of 5.77. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, 15 wickets at 7.55.
India often speaks of fast-bowling depth. Krishna Kumar believes the solution sometimes lies in rewarding those who keep doing the hard yards. “We say we do not have enough fast bowlers,” he said. “So why not select the one who is taking wickets like anything?”
Mayank Agarwal’s defiant hundred ensured eight-time champions Karnataka were better placed at 220/5, trailing the visitors by 364 runs with Agarwal batting on 130 alongside wicketkeeper Kruthik Krishna (27).
Agarwal pulled Karnataka out of the rut when the scoreboard read 57/4, batting with a lot of grit and composure. He steadied the ship by punishing the loose balls, largely against J&K’s spinners.
Shreyas Gopal (27) gave him good support and the duo added 105 together before Yudhvir Singh trapped him with one that nipped back. Spinner Abid Mushtaq created an opportunity at the fag end of the day but Agarwal was dropped on 124.
