Ranji Trophy 2025-26 final – Sportstar
Auqib Nabi would have been a fine book reviewer. Neither the name of the author and nor the standing of the publisher would have mattered to him. The written word would have been sacrosanct.
On day three of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy final against Karnataka, the Jammu & Kashmir pacer brought this reputation-agnostic quality to his bowling to dismiss K.L. Rahul, Karun Nair and R. Smaran.
The three have nearly 20,000 First Class runs among them, and Rahul and Karun have featured in a combined 77 Tests for India. But on Thursday, Rahul scored three of his 13 runs off Nabi, and Karun and Smaran none.
“My mindset is that I should bowl without looking at the batsmen,” Nabi said after play.
“I should do what I can do, which is to stick to a particular line and length, and not leave the channel. If you are bowling well, there are no difficult batsmen. I bowl with that positive mindset.”
This was in contrast to how Karnataka operated. Prasidh Krishna and V. Vyshak – and occasionally Vidyadhar Patil – did come up with some tight spells, but they weren’t relentless like Nabi.
“The pitch is good for batting. But if you bowl in good areas, then there is something [in it],” Nabi explained. “So, I just wanted to bowl in a good spot.”
Often, Nabi’s flawless wrist position and the ability to land the red cherry repeatedly on the seam have been favourably compared to that of Mohammed Shami.
On Thursday, the J & K speedster showcased this yet again as he went past 100 Ranji Trophy wickets in two seasons (102).
“If you have a straight wrist, everything else becomes easy,” the 29-year-old said. “Because the ball moves only with the wrist. So if you have a straight wrist, it’s very good for a fast bowler.”
Published on Feb 26, 2026
