So, Auqib Nabi has finally found a County club. The Jammu and Kashmir medium pacer is going to Surrey and will play three games for the County side. Nabi, who will turn 30 in November, hasn’t had a good last few months. He did inspire J&K to their maiden Ranji Trophy win in February earlier this year with 60 wickets in the season, the highest by any, but things have not been good for him thereafter.
Probably the biggest mistake he made was that he played in the IPL. After failing to find a team for many years, Nabi represented Delhi Capitals in the season gone by but on flat wickets of the league, he had a baptism of fire. He heavily relies on swing but that couldn’t be found on the extremely batting-friendly wickets. He doesn’t have much pace to speak of, and that made things worse for him. He was taken to the cleaners in the few matches that he played. Only in one match, which was at Dharamsala, where conditions usually favour pacers, did he do well with the ball; however, he couldn’t take a single wicket in the entire season.
To all intents and purposes, the IPL did damage his reputation a lot. Then, in further disappointment, he was not chosen for the only Test against Afghanistan at the New Chandigarh Stadium in early June. Gurnoor Brar, however, did receive his maiden international call-up for that game. It’s another thing that he wasn’t chosen in the Playing XI. Nabi was recently part of the Indian squad that played Sri Lanka over a two-Test series but didn’t feature in any of the matches in Galle and Colombo. He could make the squad only after an injury to Jasprit Bumrah.
From September 02 onwards, Surrey play Yorkshire, and Nabi should feature in that game. Thereafter, Surrey is scheduled to play Sussex, Glamorgan and Somerset, but a report in ESPNcricinfo says the pacer is only going to play three matches since he has to return to represent India A against Australia A — from September 23 onwards. It will be interesting to see if he also plays in the Irani Cup against the Rest of India from October 1-5 because it clashes with the Australia A series. In November, India will play hosts New Zealand in two Test matches and in light of Nabi’s bowling style and the playing conditions in the Antipodean country, he should be in the squad and might even get his first international game.
