Auqib Nabi Biography 2026 – Age, Career, IPL, Stats & Net Worth

By Siddharth Anyan, Cricket Journalist Last Updated: April 9, 2026

There are not many stories in Indian domestic cricket as compelling as that of Auqib Nabi Dar. A fast bowler from Sheeri village in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, Auqib spent years quietly doing damage in Ranji Trophy matches while the rest of the country looked elsewhere. That changed completely in the 2025-26 season.

He finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 60 scalps, led Jammu and Kashmir to their first-ever Ranji Trophy title, and then walked into the IPL 2026 auction where Delhi Capitals paid ₹8.40 crore for his services — the highest amount ever paid for a cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir in IPL history. This is the full Auqib Nabi biography, covering his early life, cricket career, playing style, stats, family, and everything in between.

Auqib Nabi Dar – Personal Information

Auqib Nabi Early Life & Background

Auqib Nabi Dar was born on 4 November 1996 in Sheeri, a village in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. Growing up in the Kashmir Valley, where proper cricket infrastructure was hard to come by, he trained on local patches of ground and developed his bowling through sheer persistence rather than access to academies or coaching camps.

His father, Ghulam Nabi Dar, worked as a school teacher. Education was always the priority at home, but Ghulam Nabi never stood in the way of his son’s cricket ambitions — as long as academics were not neglected. That balance shaped Auqib into someone who approached the game with discipline and seriousness from an early age.

Auqib’s grandmother, Fazi Begum, has remained one of his most devoted supporters throughout his career, and those who grew up watching him in Baramulla describe her joy at following his progress as something genuinely moving. The tight family unit in Sheeri has been a constant anchor for Auqib even as his career has taken him across the country.

At the district and club level in Kashmir, Auqib quickly stood out. The ability to bowl at a consistent pace on surfaces that offered little, to swing the ball in both directions and maintain control across long spells — these were not skills he inherited but ones he built through years of practice far from the spotlight.

Auqib Nabi Domestic Cricket Career

Auqib made his List A debut for Jammu and Kashmir in the 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 23 September 2018. His Twenty20 debut followed on 11 November 2019 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and he played his first first-class match on 3 January 2020 in the Ranji Trophy against Jharkhand in Ranchi.

His early first-class performances showed promise. On 19 January 2020, he took 5 for 39 against Odisha in the Ranji Trophy, announcing himself as a bowler who could take wickets rather than just contain. In October 2024, he produced arguably his best single-innings effort at that point — 5 for 29 — as he helped Jammu and Kashmir dismiss Services for just 71 runs.

The 2024-25 Ranji season was when the wider cricket world began to notice. Auqib took 44 wickets — the second-most in that entire season — at an average of 13.93 and a strike rate of 30.47. On the back of that performance, he was selected for North Zone in the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy.

Key fact: Since the start of 2024, no pace bowler in India has taken more Ranji Trophy wickets than Auqib Nabi Dar.

The Duleep Trophy Record — 4 Wickets in 4 Balls

In August 2025, during the Duleep Trophy match between North Zone and East Zone, Auqib achieved something that had never been done in the tournament’s history. He dismissed four successive batters with four consecutive deliveries — a double hat-trick — becoming the first bowler to achieve that feat in Duleep Trophy history. It was the moment that turned him from a well-regarded domestic performer into a talking point in cricket circles across the country.

Ranji Trophy 2025-26 — A Historic Season

The 2025-26 Ranji Trophy campaign was the defining chapter of Auqib Nabi’s career so far. He finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 60 wickets at an average of 12.65 — a number that stands among the best single-season performances by any pace bowler in recent Ranji Trophy history.

His contributions across the knockout stages were decisive. In the semi-final against Bengal, he took 5 for 87 and 4 for 36, earning the Player of the Match award and sending Jammu and Kashmir into their first-ever Ranji Trophy final. In that final against Karnataka, he took 5 for 54 as J&K won the title on first innings — ending a 67-year wait for the state’s first domestic championship.

Earlier in the season, he produced a stunning 7 for 24 against Rajasthan, which remains one of the most dominant bowling performances of that entire campaign. His highest first-class score of 55 also came in that same Rajasthan match, underlining that he is no ordinary tail-ender.

Vijay Hazare Trophy — The 114* at Number 8

Auqib’s batting ability announced itself memorably in the Vijay Hazare Trophy when, walking in with Jammu and Kashmir in deep trouble, he struck 114 not out off 82 deliveries batting at number 8. It was a List A century in his debut innings at the position, and it helped J&K overhaul Hyderabad’s total in circumstances that had looked beyond them. The innings showed a player with natural timing, clear-headed thinking under pressure, and the kind of batting instincts that coaches cannot teach.

Auqib Nabi IPL 2026 – Delhi Capitals

The IPL 2026 auction, held in Abu Dhabi in December 2025, produced one of the more surprising bidding wars of the day when Auqib Nabi Dar’s name came up. His base price was ₹30 lakh. What followed was a multi-franchise battle involving Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals before Delhi Capitals secured him for ₹8.40 crore.

That figure made him the most expensive player ever from Jammu and Kashmir in IPL auction history. For context, Delhi Capitals signed him to provide genuine support to Mitchell Starc in the pace attack, alongside Mukesh Kumar and T. Natarajan. Auqib’s ability to swing the new ball and execute controlled spells in the middle overs — qualities that are rare among uncapped Indian pacers — made him a target for multiple franchises.

Auqib’s IPL career began in April 2026. Coming in as one of the more anticipated young Indian fast bowlers of this season, expectations are high from both the Delhi Capitals management and from his home state of Jammu and Kashmir, where his success has been followed with immense pride.

Auqib Nabi Playing Style & Strengths

Auqib Nabi operates in the 125-135 kmph range — not the kind of raw pace that generates gasps, but more than quick enough at the first-class level to cause problems when combined with his other tools. What sets him apart is the quality of his seam position and his ability to generate movement in both directions well into a spell, even on pitches that offer very little.

His outswing is his primary weapon with the new ball. He holds the seam upright, releases from close to the stumps, and shapes the ball away from right-handers in a manner that tests edges consistently. The inswinger — brought in sharply and often arriving with the same action — is what makes him genuinely dangerous. Batters who settle into playing for the away movement can be undone by it quickly, as happened to several experienced players in the 2025-26 Ranji season.

He bowls long spells without losing accuracy, which is a quality that captains at the first-class level particularly value. His economy rate of 2.89 in first-class cricket is a reflection of how hard he is to score off even when he is not taking wickets. In T20 cricket, he has developed a wide yorker and a slower ball that disrupts opposition plans in the death overs.

With the bat, he is a genuine lower-order threat. His Vijay Hazare century is not a fluke — it reflects a player who understands the game well enough to construct an innings under pressure when it is needed.

Auqib Nabi Career Statistics

Bowling

Batting

Auqib Nabi Records & Achievements

Auqib Nabi Family

Auqib’s father Ghulam Nabi Dar has been a guiding influence since the beginning. As a school teacher, he brought the values of consistency and discipline into the household — the same qualities that define Auqib’s approach to bowling. He was supportive of Auqib’s cricket career but always kept an emphasis on hard work and academic balance during the early years.

His grandmother Fazi Begum is one of his most loyal admirers. People close to Auqib describe how she has followed his career from the very beginning, and her pride in what he has achieved for Baramulla and for J&K has been a source of motivation for him.

Auqib has remained close to his family and continues to return to Baramulla whenever his cricket schedule allows. Despite the national attention that followed the Ranji Trophy win and the IPL auction, he has maintained a deliberately quiet personal life away from social media and public events.

Auqib Nabi Net Worth 2026

After the IPL 2026 auction, Auqib Nabi Dar’s estimated net worth stands at approximately ₹9 to ₹9.5 crore. The bulk of that comes from his ₹8.40 crore contract with Delhi Capitals, supplemented by domestic cricket earnings from Jammu and Kashmir and various Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) appearance fees over the years.

Auqib is not known for a flashy lifestyle. He lives simply and his daily routine revolves largely around training and recovery. He stepped back from social media platforms to stay focused on cricket, and those who know him describe a person who is more interested in taking wickets than in building a personal brand.

5 Facts About Auqib Nabi That Most People Do Not Know

The auction he almost missed: Auqib entered the IPL 2026 auction with a base price of ₹30 lakh, having gone unsold in previous auction cycles. The ₹8.40 crore final bid was 28 times his base price — one of the sharpest auction escalations of that day.

He gave up social media to focus on cricket: At a point where most young cricketers are building Instagram followings, Auqib made a conscious decision to step away from social media entirely. He has since posted almost nothing, with fewer than 2,500 followers on Instagram and barely any activity on the account.

Irfan Pathan noticed him before the rest of the country did: When Auqib cited Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami as his inspirations in a 2025 interview, Irfan Pathan — who works closely with J&K cricket in a mentorship capacity — publicly credited Auqib’s commitment to improving his game as a major reason for his rapid development.

The semi-final that made history: His match figures of 9 for 123 across two innings in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bengal were the best by any bowler in that knockout round. It was the performance that ended Bengal’s campaign and took J&K to their first final.

He bats better than he is given credit for: His first-class average of 19.00 with two half-centuries, combined with a List A strike rate above 111 including a century, make him one of the better all-round lower-order options currently playing domestic cricket in India.

Latest News & Updates (April 2026)

1. Improved as an All-Rounder: Apart from being a fast bowler, Auqib Nabi has shown himself to be a much more rounded player. Earlier this year, Nabi scored a tremendous 114 runs off 82 balls* during the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

2. Talk of National Team Selections: There have been recent whispers about selecting Nabi for India’s national white-ball team on account of the remarkable domestic form he displayed and after setting a record in the Duleep Trophy by taking four consecutive wickets.

3. Not yet debuted In IPL as of April 9, 2026 — but confirmed ready

4. Irfan Pathan (spotted him in 2018 in Under-23 cricket) and he is his mnetor.

5. Dale Steyn is his idol

Frequently Asked Questions – Auqib Nabi