The quarter-final of Duleep Trophy 2025 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru was no less than a thriller movie for the viewers.
28-year-old fast bowler Auqib Nabi from Jammu and Kashmir did such a feat on Friday that he won the hearts of cricket fans.
Becoming a hat-trick hero, Nabi performed brilliantly for North Zone against East Zone and created history.
Nabi created havoc in the 53rd over. He destroyed the batting line-up of East Zone by taking three consecutive wickets on the last three balls.
First got Suraj Jaiswal (10) caught by wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan, then got Manishi LBW on zero, and finally bowled Mukhtar Hussain without opening the account.
Not only this, Nabi also took 5 wickets by dismissing Virat Singh, who scored 69 runs in this innings, and veteran Mohammad Shami (1 run).
This feat took Nabi to the special list of legends Kapil Dev and Sairaj Bahutule. Kapil took a hat-trick in 1978/79 at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla and Bahutule took a hat-trick in 2000/01 at Pune’s Nehru Stadium. Now Nabi’s name has also been included in this golden record.
Nabi’s record-book!
Auqib Nabi’s performance is not limited to this match only. He has taken 90 wickets in 29 first-class matches, that too at a tremendous average of 22.12. His best has been 6/53 in an innings and 10/74 in a match.
With a strike rate of 44.4 and an economy rate of 2.98, he dominates red-ball cricket. He has 42 wickets in 29 List A matches with a best of 4/39.
Talking about the match, North Zone scored 405 runs in the first innings with Ayush Badoni (63), Yash Dhul (39), and Nishant Sindhu (47) doing wonders.
In reply, East Zone was bowled out for just 230 runs with Riyan Parag trying to fight on his own. Nabi’s fiery deliveries put East Zone behind by 175 runs.
