Home
Auqib Nabi, a pacer from Jammu and Kashmir bowled a sensational spell for North Zone in their quarter-final clash against East Zone in Duleep Trophy. The 28-year-old picked up five wickets for just 28 runs as his side bundled out the opposition for 230 runs and took a 175-run lead heading into their second innings.
Interestingly, four of Nabi's wickets came on back-to-back deliveries. He first dismissed Virat Singh on the fourth delivery of the 53rd over before clinching the wickets of Manishi and Mukhtar Hussain on the next two balls to complete his hat-trick. He was brought back into the attack for the 55th over and sent Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal back to the dugout on the first ball.
He didn't stop there and also picked up the final wicket of East Zone's innings in the form of Mohammed Shami, who departed in the 57th over. Following his magical spell, Nabi remarked that his goal is to play Test cricket for India one day.
“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.
Nabi also shared that even though taking four wickets in as many deliveries means a lot to him, he was happier with how he was able to get his team a massive lead ahead of their second innings.
“I am feeling very good. This is a rare record, four in four, but more importantly, I got my team a first-innings lead," Nabi stated.
“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," he added.
Nabi was impressive with the bat as well
However, Nabi didn't make headlines just with the ball and even played a valiant cameo of 44 runs from 33 deliveries when he came out to bat on the No.9 spot. The 28-year-old hit five boundaries and two sixes in the inning and played a key role in taking North Zone's total over the 400-run mark.
ADVERTISEMENT
