Duleep Trophy 2025: Jammu & Kashmir’s Auqib Nabi takes double hat-trick vs East Zone

On Friday, August 29, Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi stunned batters in domestic cricket with a spectacular spell for North Zone against East Zone in the first quarter-final of the 2025 Duleep Trophy at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru.

Auqib Nabi made his red-ball competition debut, taking four wickets in as many balls to record a double hat-trick.

The 28-year-old was the best wicket-taker among pacers in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, with 44 scalps in eight matches. He has maintained the same form against some of the top batters in Indian cricket.

On Friday, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana shared the new ball, so Nabi came in as the first change bowler. The right-arm seamer went wicketless in his first eight overs before taking five wickets in the span of 13 balls.

Nabi dismissed Virat Singh, Manishi, and Mukhtar Hussain with the last three deliveries of the 53rd over. Nabi dismissed Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal with the first delivery of the 55th over. The excellent Baramulla cricketer completed his five-for in the following over, dismissing Mohammed Shami.

Nabi completed with an outstanding bowling performance of 5/28 in 10.1 overs. He also managed to get a strikeout while bothering the East Zone batters with his excellent swing and seam. Riyan Parag and co. were bowled out for 230 in their first innings, giving North Zone a comfortable 175-run advantage.

Nabi joined an elite group of Indian bowlers who claimed four wickets in four balls in first-class cricket. Shankar Saini, Mohammad Mudhasir, and Kulwant Khejroliya had completed the magnificent accomplishment before him.

Indians with 4 wickets in 4 balls in first-class cricket

• Shankar Saini, Delhi vs Himachal Pradesh, 1988
• Mohammad Mudhasir, Jammu & Kashmir vs Rajasthan, 2018
• Kulwant Khejroliya, Madhya Pradesh vs Baroda, 2024
• Auqib Nabi, North Zone vs East Zone, Today