I just wanted to bat through till the end: Auqib Nabi after ‘greatest knock’ against Hyderabad

When Auqib Nabi strode out to the middle with bat in hand, Jammu and Kashmir were staring down the barrel at 78 for six against Hyderabad in their Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B encounter. With just four wickets left, the 269-run target seemed nothing but a fading glint on the horizon.

The 29-year-old, however, had other ideas. Nabi slammed his maiden List-A hundred to help the team script a near-impossible comeback from the depths of anguish, eventually winning with three wickets and 13 balls to spare. In a conversation with Sportstar, the pacer broke down his stunning counter-attacking century, terming it the ‘greatest knock’ he has ever played.

“When I went in to bat, I was not looking at the score. I just wanted to bat through. As we kept getting closer to the target, I felt, ‘Yes, we can do it.’ We continued to play according to the situation and managed to pull off a great win,” a visibly content Nabi said.

A bouncer barrage from the Hyderabad pacers had spelt doom for the J&K top-order, who failed to deal with the extra bounce from the surface. By the time Nabi walked in, the trio had bowled just shy of twenty overs between them, allowing the medium pacer the opportunity to play out a few overs of spin.

“I was just thinking that I will hit anything that is within my range. I did not want to go after balls forcefully,” he explained.

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Hyderabad missed a trick by not bowling out the quicker bowlers who were at the peak of their powers. The few overs of spin allowed Nabi and Vanshaj Sharma to get stuck in at the crease without any major fuss. Before the side could course correct by bringing them back, Nabi had spent enough time in the middle to be able to battle the short-ball attack.

“In my mind, I knew that the fast, short balls would travel far if I managed to connect. The boundary was slightly shorter on one side, and I was looking to take advantage of that. I tried to play along the ground when hitting towards the longer side,” he said.

Nabi was ably supported in his pursuit by Vanshaj, who also remained unbeaten on 69 at the end. The left-arm spinner combined for a mammoth 182-run unbeaten stand with his senior partner, the largest eight-wicket partnership in VHT history. “The conversation from the beginning was that we would not look at the target at all. We will play like we are batting first. When we got closer, we became more cautious and played more responsibly,” Nabi said.

The J&K bowler says the maiden 50-over hundred has come after countless hours of practice with head coach Ajay Sharma. “I have been working hard with Ajay sir. He is a legend in domestic cricket and has scored so many runs. My focus has been on trying to take in some tips and gain some knowledge from him.”

Despite the morale-boosting win, J&K’s VHT journey was curtailed in the group stage. Nabi says the next objective is to carry over the form into the Ranji Trophy knockouts and attempt to win that elusive first title in the storied domestic red-ball tournament.

Published on Jan 08, 2026