If you are not a cricket lover then you might not have heard the name of Aaqib Ali before today. The boy from Kashmir bowls at a speed of 140+, with inswing and outswing. Imagine how dangerous that would be. There was a lot of discussion about this player in domestic cricket, but now it seems that this storm is going to come in international cricket. Why are we saying this? Because this speed meter of Kashmir has been purchased in IPL auction for Rs 8.40 crore. Delhi Capitals included this player in their team by bidding 28 times more than the base price of Rs 30 lakh.
Well, the big thing is that Delhi tried very hard to include Aaqib in their team because even Rajasthan Royals did not make a light bid. The match between the two franchises continued for some time but Rajasthan Royals soon withdrew, soon after which Royal Challengers Bangalore took the field. RCB took the bid beyond Rs 1 crore, then backed out and then came Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both the teams fought hard to include Aaqib in their team and the bid kept going up. Ultimately, Delhi Capitals won this battle for 8.40 crores. In this way, Aaqib Nabi Dar became the third fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir, who has got a contract in IPL. Before this, Umran Malik and Yudhveer Singh Charak have got this opportunity.
Let us know why Aaqib was bought so expensively in IPL, how did he start playing cricket? What were the challenges faced by him?
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The big reason behind Aaqib getting the amount of Rs 8.4 crore is his tremendous and consistent performance in domestic cricket. He not only took wickets with his fast bowling, but also supported the team with his batting in difficult times. His aggressive speed, wicket-taking ability and timely batting impressed Delhi Capitals a lot.
Let us know one by one-
Record breaking performance in Ranji Trophy: Aaqib performed brilliantly in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, taking 44 wickets. That season he became the second highest wicket taker in the country and no other fast bowler performed anywhere near him. The 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season also got off to a great start. He was the only fast bowler to be among the top-five wicket-takers in the first half. He took 29 wickets in 9 innings, in which he did the feat of taking 5 wickets in an innings thrice.
Amazing in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Aaqib showed his talent in T20 format also. In the 2025–26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he took 15 wickets in 7 matches, that too with a good economy rate of 7.41. Against Bihar he took 16 wickets for 4 runs. In his most recent match against Madhya Pradesh, he produced important performances with both ball and bat. Coming at number 7, he scored 32 runs in 21 balls and then took 3 important wickets for 19 runs in 4 overs.
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History in Duleep Trophy: He made another big record in the 2025 Duleep Trophy. He took 4 wickets in 4 balls against East Zone. He became the first player in the history of this tournament to do this feat. Aaqib Nabi compares his bowling with the great South African fast bowler Dale Steyn. He completely copied the aggression of Steyn’s outswinger. However, now he also likes Jasprit Bumrah, whom he considers an all-format bowler. Aaqib’s consistently lethal and impressive performances were the main reason why Delhi Capitals included him in their squad by paying such a huge amount.
life full of struggle
Aaqib Nabi belongs to Shari village of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. Aaqib’s father Ghulam Nabi Dar is a school head master and English teacher by profession. From the very beginning, Ghulam Nabi Dar Saheb wanted Aaqib to concentrate on studies instead of cricket and become a doctor. While Aaqib used to play cricket along with studies, in his childhood he played tennis-ball cricket in the streets. When Aaqib took admission in Amar Singh College, Srinagar, his cricket journey truly began. After playing for a long time, when he made it to Under-19 cricket, his father started giving him full support and became Aaqib’s biggest supporter.
Aaqib Nabi played his first red-ball cricket match just after the age of 19. He got the opportunity to go to the state trials when he went with a friend and got selected there. Aaqib’s success has been played by his cousin brother Zahoor Ahmed – who is popularly known as Zahoor Zolo and is a well-known all-rounder of Kashmir. Zahoor Zolo says, ‘The family wanted Aaqib to study.’ However, Zahoor saw a cricketer in Aaqib. Zahoor had stopped Aaqib’s classes without informing him at home. It was Zahoor who asked Aaqib to go for the Under-19 trials and Aaqib was selected in the first attempt itself.
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Aaqib’s father Ghulam Nabi Dar shared an incident from the time of Under-19 selection, ‘The team had been selected but an important document of Aaqib was yet to come from the hospital. The team left but Aaqib’s selection was over. He got this document at 4 pm and he ran away wearing slippers and caught the bus. By 3:30 in the night his father and mother were worried as to where Aaqib might have reached. They kept calling Aaqib’s coach and driver throughout the night. After that night Aaqib never looked back. Aaqib’s father now says- Today I am recognized by the name of my son, see this is Aaqib’s father.
Aaqib’s debut and performance
Aaqib made his debut for Jammu and Kashmir in List-A i.e. limited overs cricket in 2018 against Vijay Hazare and in Ranji Trophy in 2020 and now by taking 44 wickets in the 2024-25 Ranji season, he became the bowler taking the most wickets in a Ranji season for J&K, before this this record was in the name of Parvez Rasool. Aaqib Nabi’s biggest strength is his swing, when the ball comes out of his hand, it seems as if the seam of the ball is saying that there is a wicket on it. When Aaqib Nabi was playing the Duleep Trophy match this year, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana were also there and in the same match, Aaqib took 4 wickets in 4 balls and became the highlight of the match.
Aaqib Nabi has played 36 matches in Ranji so far, taking 125 wickets with an excellent average of 19. The figures are without a doubt fantastic. This bowler has been playing Ranji matches for 5 years but when it comes to selection, whether in INDIA A team or Indian team, this player is not even remotely in the scheme of things. This bowler has everything, late swing, seam movement, pace, everything. Aaqib has now got the results of this.
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