Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi became the first player from the region to receive an Indian call-up for Test cricket. Before him, Parvez Rasool and Umran Malik have played for India in white-ball cricket, but Nabi becomes the first who might wear the Indian whites.
Nabi replaced pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian team from the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting on August 15. Known as the "Baramulla Express," Nabi has dominated the local circuit for the previous two seasons, taking an incredible 104 wickets, including a 60-wicket performance earlier this year that helped Jammu & Kashmir win the Ranji Trophy for the first time.
Jammu & Kashmir is celebrating Nabi's inclusion in the Indian Test squad. When Sunil Kumar, a left-arm bowler and Nabi's new-ball partner in domestic cricket, learned of his partner's call-up through a WhatsApp group, he was overjoyed.
“I am very happy for him because he is a person who's very down-to-earth. He is a very hardworking person. Today, his hard work has yielded the fruit he truly deserves. I talked to him when he was with the India ‘A' team in Sri Lanka. It was a normal conversation, and right now, only congratulations and stuff like that has happened,” he said to IANS.
For cricket players who grew up in Jammu & Kashmir and wanted to represent their nation, Sunil also views Nabi's promotion to the Test team as a turning point.
“This is the first time that a guy from the state has gone to the Test Team. With the way our team was playing, especially in the past 2 years, we used to talk about who would break the barrier of getting into the national Test team, and the person whose name always came first in this regard was Auqib Bhai.
Now, we all can see that he has achieved it. So, everyone here will get a boost, as now that door is open, which was closed for a long time. More players and more talent can come out of J&K, and they can achieve their ultimate goal,” he added.
Sunil remains confident that Nabi's temperament will be his greatest asset whenever he gets to make a potential Test debut in Sri Lanka.
"Auqib bhai will do well. There is no doubt about it because he is mentally tough. He knows that no matter what the conditions are, no matter how difficult a situation it is, he doesn't care. He knows that he has to come and bowl well in his areas to get the batters dismissed. I mean, he has the gumption and ability, as well as the awareness, to know that he can perform well at the Test level. Mentally, he is very tough,” he concluded.
Muzaffar Mattoo, coach of the under-16 team winning the Vijay Merchant Trophy Plate Group in the 2025/26 season, saw the rise of Auqib Nabi from local cricketer to potential India Test player, which is a reward for years of hard work.
"It's a great moment for all of us and for the whole of Jammu & Kashmir. So, we are delighted enough that Auqib has got a call-up for Team India, and we hope that he will deliver the same form that he has already delivered in the Ranji Trophy. It's never too late to get a call-up, and we hope that he carries the same form there in Sri Lanka. The selectors felt that this is the right time for him. So, we are all excited, we are all delighted, and we hope all the best happens with Auqib," he told IANS.
Apart from these two, captain of the Jammu and Kashmir team, Paras Dogra, also shared his joy at Auqib Nabi’s selection for the Indian Test team.
“Congratulations, @auqib_nabi. Good luck; a long way to go," he posted on Instagram.
Other members of the Indian cricket fraternity, like Irfan Pathan, Harsha Bhogle, Priyank Panchal, and Dodda Ganesh, also took to social media to congratulate Auqib Nabi for his Indian Test team selection.
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Auqib Nabi is part of the Indian pace attack for Sri Lanka Tests, also featuring Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar, and Prasidh Krishna. But given the spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka, India is expected to field only two pacers.
(IANS inputs)
