CHENNAI: It will only be a matter of time before an Indian selector rings Auqib Nabi's phone to inform the J&K pacer of a maiden call-up. It will only be a matter of time before Nabi marks his run-up while wearing India blue or creams. Over the last two years, Nabi has been the best pacer in domestic cricket. He once again played his greatest hits as multiple India batters (and one in line to be fast-tracked) tried and failed to quieten the noise around him. KL Rahul and Karun Nair were sent packing by him and the same fate was also reserved for R Smaran, a talent who has a lot of admirers in the BCCI's corridors.
On a strip where the experienced Karnataka bowlers including India pacer Prasidh Krishna toiled for 173.1 overs to bowl out their opponents, Nabi was all fire and brimstone. He moved it both ways, reducing the eight-time champions to 220/5 at stumps on Day Three of the Ranji Trophy final in Hubballi on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Baramulla pacer ended the day with impressive figures of 3/32 in 14 overs. Earlier, J&K, featuring in their maiden Ranji final, rode on Shubham Pundir's 121 and half-centuries from five of their batters to post a mammoth first-innings total of 584. And once Karnataka led by India international Mayank Agarwal came out to bat, Nabi took centrestage.
J&K bowling coach Krishna Kumar shed light on what worked for his bowlers, especially on a surface still holding its own. "I told them to do two things — land the ball on seam and bowl drivable lengths as the fuller you bowl, there is a lot more chance of getting late movement," Kumar told this daily.
And as has been the case throughout this season, in fact the last two seasons, Nabi implemented the plan to perfection giving Karnataka their first blow when he had Rahul with a peach of a delivery. He squared up Rahul with late movement as the ball took a thin edge of the bat before being taken safely by wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan. Given not out, J&K skipper Paras Dogra after being convinced by the keeper, reviewed. And it proved to be the perfect review. With excessive heat taking a toll on pacers, J&K team management decided to use their bowlers in short spells. "Paras deserves special praise as he made sure the bowlers were not exhausted. He used them in short spells and that worked," added the bowling coach.
Fellow pacer Sunil Kumar then sent back Karnataka captain Devdutt Padikkal before Nabi claimed two big wickets of successive deliveries to push their opponents on the back foot. He first cleaned up Karun Nair with a beauty that hit the off-stump after moving away on pitching, leaving the in-form batter clueless. Next in was leading scorer this season Smaran with 950 runs. Nabi, however, got him out for a golden duck with a back of length ball that straightened after pitching. Smaran could only find an edge which was pocketed by Wadhawan.
Agarwal stood tall amid ruins as he added 102 runs for the fifth wicket with Shreyas Gopal. Unbeaten on 130, a lot will depend on him when Karnataka come out to bat on Friday. Given a reprieve at the fag end when the substitute keeper Dikshant Kundal put him down off left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq in the 64th over, Agarwal has to bat out of his skin to save the match for his team. "Wadhawan had a stiff back and so we replaced him. Had that chance been not dropped, we would have been in the driver's seat. Besides, our spinners could have done better but with the wicket they are bowling on, I think all of them bowled really well."
Kumar reserved special praise for Nabi, who now has 58 wickets and only two wickets short of taking over the leading wicket-taker Mayank Mishra of Uttarakhand. "The wrist position Nabi has is a god's gift. Because of it, the nature of the pitch doesn't matter. It's the same with (Mohammed) Shami. If you understand the biomechanics of his bowling, you will realise he releases the ball from the same point again and again. This, in turn, helps him bowl the same length for a long time. He has been playing consistently for the past two seasons without any injury because of this only. The message will be the same for Friday — bowl as many dot balls as possible and attack stumps," Kumar signed off.
Brief scores: J&K 584 in 173.1 ovs vs Karnataka 220/5 in 69 ovs (Agarwal 130 batting; Nabi 3/32).