Auqib Nabi’s exclusion breaks hearts, raises questions
Suhail Khan
The selectors call it a balance issue. Kashmir calls it a wound that refuses to heal.
Auqib Nabi, the 29-year-old pace bowler from north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, did everything a domestic cricketer possibly could over the last two seasons. He took 104 first-class wickets — 44 in 2024-25, a staggering 60 in 2025-26, the highest by any bowler in the Ranji Trophy. He won the Player of the Match award in the final against Karnataka, ripping through a line-up that boasted four India internationals. He made Jammu & Kashmir champions for the first time since the tournament began 67 years ago.
And yet, when the BCCI announced India’s 15-man Test squad against Afghanistan in Mullanpur (June 6-10), Nabi’s name was nowhere on the list.
‘He was close’
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar did not dismiss Nabi’s case outright. “There is always a chat around that,” Agarkar told reporters. “He was close.”
But in Indian cricket’s unforgiving selection maths, close doesn’t get you a Test cap.
Instead, the selectors have backed three pacers — Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, and debutant Gurnoor Brar — in a spin-heavy squad. Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. Conditions at Mullanpur, the selectors argued, demanded a different combination. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav will lead the attack alongside Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey. Nabi, for the second consecutive season despite overwhelming numbers, has been left to watch from outside.
There is no statistical argument against Nabi. Over two Ranji seasons:
2024-25: 44 wickets in 7 matches, the most by any pacer in the competition
2025-26: 60 wickets in 10 matches, the highest overall wicket-taker in the tournament
These are not purple patches. These are career-defining runs. And yet, for the second straight year, they have been met with a door that remains firmly shut.
The exclusion has drawn rare cross-party agreement — from cricketing greats to political leaders.
Former India batter Suresh Raina said Nabi “should have got a chance a long time back”. KL Rahul, who will vice-captain the Test side and who fell to Nabi in that Ranji final, offered a measured but telling tribute: “He’s definitely somebody we are going to see a lot of. He’s been very good in first-class cricket. He’s made a big name for himself.”
In Srinagar, the disbelief carried a political edge. PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Para called the decision “truly shocking”, pointing out that Nabi had been praised by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Home Minister and the Chief Minister — and now overlooked by the BCCI.
“The man behind J&K’s historic Ranji success after 67 years — Player of the Match, IPL-selected — has surprisingly been dropped. FYI,” Para wrote on X.
On social media, the questions came faster than answers. If not against Afghanistan, fans asked, then whom? If not when Bumrah is rested, then when? If 104 wickets across two seasons is not enough, what is?
Nabi has not spoken publicly. He did not need to. The squad list spoke for him.
He broke batting line-ups. He broke records. He broke a 67-year-old jinx. But when the India squad was announced, all that broke was the quiet hope of a generation of domestic cricketers — and perhaps their faith that excellence, by itself, is enough.
“There is a saying here — mehnat dikhti hai, lekin selectors ko nahin dikhti (hard work is visible, but selectors can’t see it),” says Faisal, 25, who has followed J&K’s Ranji campaign for over a decade. “Auqib bhai made us believe that a Kashmiri boy could wear the India cap. We waited for that moment. Now we are left with nothing but questions. What more could he have done? Play on one leg?”
More than wickets
For many in Kashmir, where sporting infrastructure remains limited and opportunities feel scarce, Auqib Nabi represented more than just wickets. He was a symbol — that a boy from the Valley could stand toe-to-toe with the best in the country.
“Growing up in Baramulla, we never had a role model in cricket from our own land. We watched Kohli, Dhoni, but they felt like they belonged to a different world,” says Aamir Hussain Mir, a young budding cricketer. “Then came Auqib. He was one of us. He spoke like us. He came from nothing and conquered the Ranji Trophy. We genuinely believed the India cap was a formality. Now I don’t know what to believe.”
The selectors have moved on. The Afghanistan Test awaits. But for Auqib Nabi, and for everyone who watched that Ranji final and believed, the question will linger long after the first ball is bowled in Mullanpur:
What more could one man have done?
