Delhi Capitals’ ₹8.40 cr recruit's 12-wicket haul powers J&K into Ranji Trophy semifinals

Auqib Nabi delivered a memorable performance as Jammu & Kashmir defeated former champions Madhya Pradesh by 56 runs to reach the Ranji Trophy semifinals at Holkar Stadium in Indore.

Madhya Pradesh's batting

Chasing a target of 291 on the fourth day, Madhya Pradesh were bowled out for 234. Their task became difficult largely due to their own careless batting earlier in the match. With this win, J&K moved into the last four, where they will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Andhra and Bengal. The other semifinal will be played between Uttarakhand and Karnataka.

Auqib Nabi's heroics for Jammu & Kashmir

The star of the match was 29-year-old pacer Auqib Nabi, who picked up a career-best 12 wickets in the game. He followed up his first-innings spell of 7 for 40 with another fine effort, taking 5 for 70 in the second innings to finish with figures of 12 for 110. Notably, the Jammu & Kashmir bowler was picked by Delhi Capitals (DC) for ₹8.40 ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

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Madhya Pradesh on Day 4

Madhya Pradesh resumed the day in trouble at 84 for 5, having already lost three wickets to Auqib the previous evening. The fast bowler continued his dominance, removing Ramveer Gurjar for 11 and later ending Saransh Jain’s resistance. Jain fought hard with a 64 off 81 balls and briefly kept MP’s hopes alive.

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India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was the first wicket to fall on the day, departing at 104, just 20 runs after the overnight score. After that, wickets fell regularly. Tailender Aryan Pandey scored 22, but by then the match had slipped away from Madhya Pradesh.

Saransh Jain did try to delay the inevitable by putting together small partnerships with Shubham Sharma (32) and Ramveer Gurjar, hitting seven fours and a six, but he eventually fell to Auqib.

Left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq also played an important role for Jammu & Kashmir, picking up three wickets for 49 runs to support the pace attack.

Brief scores:

Jammu & Kashmir: 194 and 248 all out in 70.3 overs. Madhya Pradesh 152 and 234 all out in 68.3 overs (Shubham Sharma 32, Saransh Jain 64; Auqib Nabi 5/70, Abid Mushtaq 3/49).