Watch: Auqib Nabi celebrates 5-fer vs Karnataka in Ranji Trophy 2025/26 final

For the entire Ranji Trophy 2025/26, the focus, with the ball, has been on the right-arm pacer from Jammu and Kashmir, Auqib Nabi, who has shouldered the attack several times in the tournament. Whenever a partnership has grown, Nabi has used his several skills and expertise to bowl in the right line and length to dismiss the batter and bring them back in the clash. 

During the final, Auqib Nabi again came to the party as he celebrated a fine five-wicket haul at the KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground. He drew the first blood with the wicket of KL Rahul. It was a skiddy back of a length delivery on the off stump as it straightened after landing to square the batter and grabbed the outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper.

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He bowled a beauty to Karun Nair for a nine-ball duck as it came angled in initially with the natural over the wicket angle but seamed away just enough to put the batter in a tangle. Nair played down the original line in an attempt to deal with it as it whistled past the edge and broke the stumps.

Auqib Nabi celebrates 5/54 in Ranji Trophy 2025/26 final 

On the very next delivery, Nabi got Smaran Ravichandran for a golden duck. It was a back-of-a-length delivery in the channel from round the wicket. It pitched and straightened a bit to open the batter and got the outside edge. On the fourth day’s play, he grabbed the massive wicket of inform opener, Mayank Agarwal, for 160 runs.

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It was a good length delivery that seemed sharply from outside the off stump. The ball stepped down as it rose on his toes a bit as he tried to work it across, but got beaten on the inside edge and was struck on the knee roll. The replay confirmed the three reds.

Nabi ended with figures of 5/54 in 23 overs as Karnataka got dismissed for 293 runs in reply to Jammu and Kashmir’s 584 runs. The J&K side took a lead of 291 runs in the first innings before losing two wickets for 11 runs before the lunch break.

Brief Scores: J&K 584 (Shubham Pundir 121, Yawer Hassan 88, Prasidh Krishna 5/98) & 11/2 (Qamran Iqbal 6*, Prasidh Krishna 1/4) lead Karnataka 293 (Mayank Agarwal 160, Auqib Nabi 5/54) by 302 runs.