Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi bowled a sensational spell in the Duleep Trophy quarter-final for North Zone against East Zone, taking five wickets for just 28 runs and helping his team bundle out the opposition for 230 runs, securing a 175-run lead going into the second innings. Remarkably, four of Nabi’s wickets came in consecutive deliveries. He first dismissed Virat Singh on the fourth delivery of the 53rd over, followed by the wickets of Manishi and Mukhtar Hussain on the next two balls, completing his hat-trick. Returning to bowl the 55th over,
Nabi Wrecking Havoc
Nabi sent Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal back on the first ball, and later claimed the final wicket of Mohammed Shami in the 57th over. After this magical performance, Nabi expressed his goal of playing Test cricket for India, saying, “Jab aapka goal India ke liye khelna ho, toh ye sab matter nahi karta. (If your goal is to play for India, these things don’t matter). It doesn’t matter if you have limited resources. You have to use them. You can’t make excuses. You have to keep improving if you want to play for your country. And that’s my goal… to wear the India whites,” Nabi told ESPNcricinfo after the match.
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Nabi also highlighted that while taking four wickets in four balls is a rare and special record, what made him happiest was helping his team secure a massive lead. “I am feeling very good. This is a rare record, four in four, but more importantly, I got my team a first-innings lead,” he said. He explained his approach during the spell: “When I started my spell, I was bowling well. I beat the bat a number of times, and I felt I was a bit unlucky. I try and pick up wickets; if that doesn’t work, I try and contain the batters. Today, I just tried to put the ball in one place, and it worked. There was a nice breeze blowing across the ground in the evening, and I got help from that.” Beyond his bowling exploits, Nabi contributed a valiant batting performance, scoring 44 runs from 33 deliveries with five boundaries and two sixes, helping take North Zone’s total beyond 400.
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Records Made
This extraordinary feat placed Auqib Nabi in an elite club. He became the first player in Duleep Trophy history to take four wickets in four balls and only the fourth Indian to achieve this in first-class cricket. The others in this exclusive list before him were Shankar Saini (1988-89), Mohammad Mudhasir (2018-19), and Kulwant Khejroliya (2023-24). His performance also earned him a historic place alongside Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev, who had achieved a hat-trick in the Duleep Trophy during the 1978-79 final while playing for North Zone against West Zone. Nabi is only the third bowler to claim a hat-trick in the competition, joining Kapil Dev and Sairaj Bahutule (2001).
In his Duleep Trophy debut, Nabi capitalized on outstanding form, having been the top pacer in the prior Ranji Trophy season with 44 wickets in eight matches, including six five-wicket hauls. His spectacular spell against some of the country’s best batters, which included dismissing key players like Virat Singh and Mohammed Shami, underscored his rising stature in Indian domestic cricket. Nabi’s extraordinary performance not only disrupted East Zone’s innings dramatically but also established North Zone’s strong position in the match, enhancing his reputation as a player to watch closely for future Indian selections
