Bengaluru: Under sullen, grey skies, the focus on Day 2 of the North Zone vs East Duleep Trophy quarterfinal on Friday quickly shifted to two India pacers — Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.They didn’t disappoint, but it wasn’t the two star North Zone bowlers who lit up the day. With the sun barely out, Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi turned on the heat, bowling with highlighted precision and purpose. The 28-year-old, who had a breakthrough 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season with 44 wickets, continued with his fine form, returning a hat-trick en route to figures of 5 for 58.Speaking about bowling alongside the Indian pace duo, Nabi said, “They’ve learnt to stay positive, and I’ve picked that up from them. When you get a chance, you have to do well. This is the first time I’m playing with them, and I’ve learnt a lot from the experience.”Nabi’s second spell late in the day devastated East as he reaped a clutch of wickets in 10 deliveries. East crumbled under the onslaught, bowled out for 230 in 56.1 overs. North, who finished on 405 in the morning, claimed a commanding 175-run lead.At 200/5 in the 46th over, East, without their main batters Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ishan Kishan, were doing relatively well, until Nabi took the wind out of their sails.The collapse began in the 53rd over when Nabi sent a defiant Virat Singh’s middle stump cartwheeling. Manishi then shouldered arms to a ball that hit him on the shin, while Mukhtar Hussain became Nabi’s hat-trick victim when a scorcher crashed into his stumps.Yet, Nabi was far from done. Off the first delivery in his next over, he got Suraj Jaiswal to offer an edge to wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan and then ended East’s innings by trapping Mohammed Shami leg before. It capped a memorable day for Nabi, which included a fighting 44 with the bat.Earlier, left-arm spinner Manishi ended North Zone’s innings with a six-wicket haul. All of the Jharkhand youngster’s victims were adjudged leg before.In the morning, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal struck off only his second delivery of the day to send back overnight batter Mayank Dagar (28). At the other end, Nabi survived some close calls, but Shami — new ball in hand and breeze behind him — was lethal.The seasoned pacer breathed fire and precision. Wadhawan was at the receiving end of Shami’s short deliveries, one of which hit him on the glove and left him writhing in pain. The next delivery caromed off his helmet. Nabi too was struck on the gloves but he eased the pressure by sending a Shami delivery over the ropesArshdeep admitted that the team under-bowled Nabi — he was brought into the attack in the 15th over. “We’ve never seen him play before, so Harshit and I kept bowling,” Arshdeep said. “When I saw him for the first time in the nets, he took about seven wickets in 10 overs. I thought it was something special. He bowled his second spell quite late as well, but he waited patiently, which is a sign of a good player.”
Poll
Do you think Auqib Nabi has a bright future in Indian cricket?
Brief scores: North Zone (O/N: 308/6): 405 all out in 93.2 overs (Kanhaiya Wadhawan 76, Mayank Dagar 28, Auqib Nabi 44; Suraj Jaiswal 2-44, Manishi 3/90) vs East Zone: 230 all out in 56.1 overs (Utkarsh Singh 38, Riyan Parag 39, Virat Singh 69, Kumar Kushagra 29; Harshit Rana 2-56, Nabi 5-28).
