Bold statement: Auqib Nabi’s dream Ranji Trophy season redefined what a player from Jammu & Kashmir could achieve, turning a modest team into title contenders and rewriting cricket history in the process. But here’s where it gets controversial: does one season of extraordinary performance eclipse a team’s long-standing struggles, or does it simply spotlight a standout talent who carried a squad to glory? This piece breaks down Nabi’s record-setting campaign, explains what his numbers mean for readers new to Indian domestic cricket, and raises questions about how we evaluate consistency versus peak moments.
Auqib Nabi anchored Jammu & Kashmir’s historic Ranji Trophy triumph in the 2025-26 season, finishing as the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 60 wickets. His tally stands as the seventh-highest single-season total in Ranji Trophy history and the third-highest for a pace bowler, behind Jaydev Unadkat’s 67 (2019-20) and Dodda Ganesh’s 62 (1998-99).
Across the last two Ranji seasons, Nabi has collected 104 wickets, placing him among the top wicket-takers in back-to-back editions. Only four bowlers have taken more wickets across consecutive Ranji seasons, and among them, only one is a fast bowler. Notably, Unadkat logged 106 wickets in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
In addition to his volume, Nabi’s control and impact are evident in his strike rates and five-wicket hauls. He claimed 13 five-wicket innings in 18 matches across 2024-25 and 2025-26, ranking just behind Ashutosh Aman’s 14 in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Nabi also became the first J&K bowler to take 50+ wickets in a Ranji Trophy season and the first from the state to finish atop the season’s bowling charts. The previous best for a J&K bowler was Nabi himself, with 44 wickets in 2024-25, tying for second place behind Harsh Dubey’s 69.
Eight five-wicket hauls in 2025-26 ties Nabi for the most by any pacer in a first-class season in India, a feat matched historically by Maurice Tate (1926-27) and Ron Oxenham (1935-36). This places Nabi in rare company for sustained wicket-taking prowess across a season.
Nabi’s overall first-class performance was accompanied by excellent bowling averages and strike rates. He logged a season-average of 13.25, a mark shared by only a handful of bowlers who have taken 60+ wickets in Indian first-class cricket. His 66 wickets at a strike rate of 29.50 rank among the best single-season figures in India in the modern era.
A standout batting moment also punctuated Nabi’s campaign. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he scored 114 not out against Hyderabad, which was his maiden List A century and came at No. 8. This innings featured a memorable 182-run eighth-wicket partnership with Vanshaj Sharma, marking the fourth-highest stand for the eighth wicket or lower in List A cricket and the highest by an Indian pair for that particular stand.
When viewed across all senior men’s domestic tournaments in 2025-26, Nabi amassed 95 wickets, the second-highest total for any bowler in India that season and the sixth-most across all formats. His performance not only propelled J&K to a historic trophy but also established Nabi as one of the premier seam bowlers in Indian domestic cricket.
Discussion questions: Do you see Nabi’s 60-wicket season as a watershed moment that signals a new era for J&K cricket, or should it be weighed against longer-term team development and consistency? How should cricket evaluators balance spectacular single-season feats with career-long trends when ranking players from smaller states?Share your thoughts in the comments.
