No IPL contract, no India A spot but J&K’s Auqib Nabi Dar is making a name for himself
Auqib Nabi Dar grew up playing tennis ball cricket in Baramulla, Kashmir, on grounds where speedsters just couldn’t use spikes. Elite cricket is high-maintenance and hallowed that way. When his feet couldn’t turn into hot wheels, the J&K pacer set off honing his wrist-work and ended up with one of the smoothest and deceptively jumbling mix of inswingers and outswingers, working his way out to snare wickets with the new ball and old.All through this self-motivated upskilling, he kept in mind what his seniors at the humble Baramulla Cricket Club told him when the cricket dream looked distant: “Work in silence. Never talk back. Show them what you are when playing, because nobody can stop you on the run-up.”
With 42 wickets this season alone – almost half his career-tally of 85 – the 28-ye...