Auqib Nabi's greatest quality is his balance. This perhaps explains why, on the day of the IPL 2026 mega auction when he secured an INR 8.4 crore deal with Delhi Capitals (DC), he chose to quietly avoid the fanfare.
Nabi was mindful not to inconvenience his neighbours in Baramulla.
"I hadn't even told my relatives or friends I'm at home," Nabi says. "I tried to avoid all the fanfare, but the mahaul [atmosphere] was celebratory. I watched from my room through the curtains as everyone danced and celebrated anyway."
Those who know Nabi vouch for this trait: he is understated and rarely speaks unless he has something meaningful to add. Yet, he's quietly assured about his skills.
P Krishnakumar, Jammu & Kashmir's bowling coach for three seasons now, recalls an exchange from the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy season.
Nabi had been a wrecking ball across conditions, but ahead of the final against Karnataka, with the spotlight firmly on him, Kumar asked how he was handling the prospect of bowling to India players like KL Rahul and Karun Nair.
"He said, 'Nothing, sir. We'll bowl them out for under 300. We've got this,'" Krishnakumar remembers. "And that is what he did."
Nabi picked up 5 for 54 to help J&K clinch their maiden Ranji title. Among Nabi's wickets on a flat Hubballi deck were those of Rahul and Karun - now his DC teammates - in a devastating opening spell that set up the match.
A current team-mate recalls the method behind one of those dismissals.
"Karun's bat was coming down at an angle. So Auqib felt there was a great chance to either have him caught in the slips or bowled. He went slightly wide of the crease and got one to straighten off the seam to beat the outside edge and hit top of off."
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That clarity is evident every time Nabi has the ball. Krishnakumar remembers Nabi mapping out plans for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) game against Bihar at Eden Gardens last November. After reviewing multiple options, they arrived at a formula.
"I asked him, 'Can you bowl the first ball as an inswinging yorker, or a full ball with late inswing?' He said, 'Done, sir.' And he did exactly that. Vaibhav was bowled first ball."
Nabi finished SMAT 2025-26 with 15 wickets in seven matches and an economy rate of 7.41. At the subsequent Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 50-overs competition, he took 14 wickets in seven games with an economy rate of 5.76. Apart from his contributions with the ball, Nabi also walloped a maiden List A century from a dire situation.
Chasing 269, J&K were 90 for 7 when Nabi joined forces with Vanshaj Sharma. Nabi finished unbeaten on 114 off 82 balls, and the pair added an unbroken 182 for the eighth wicket to seal an improbable win.
"The main thing is his hard work," Krishnakumar says of Nabi's success. "He is always ready to learn, never says no. Doesn't miss a single session. In three years I haven't seen that.
"In my first year [as J&K bowling coach], I really pushed him on the fitness side. Fitness is a big part for a fast bowler. If you're not fit, even if you have skills, you can't show them. I pushed him hard, he responded, and the rest is history."
For Nabi, the chatter around him - whether it's his IPL price tag or the expectations that come with it - has barely mattered.
"The price tag was never on my mind because I just wanted one opportunity to play, even if my name had come up for 30 lakh," he says. "My aim was simply to get picked once, play at this level, and prove that you are good enough.
"So I don't think there is too much pressure. My focus is just to do well in the IPL and maximise every opportunity that comes my way."
However, he's acutely aware everyone from J&K expects a lot from him. While others from the region such as Parvez Rasool, Rasikh Salam Dar, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik have played in the IPL, the sense around Nabi is that he's primed for even higher honours, even it they may come belatedly; he is already 29.
"It's not that there is a lot of pressure, but there are definitely expectations," Nabi admits. "When you have been performing well consistently, everyone expects you to do well here too. Apart from that, everything feels quite normal.
"Obviously, there will be expectations, but right now I am focusing on my work. Instead of paying attention to the outside talk, I am concentrating more on my preparation. My main focus is on how I can perform well in this format and how I can help DC win as many matches as possible."
For Nabi, his clarity extends to the role he sees himself playing, possibly bowling two or three overs in the powerplay and another over at the death.
"My strength is swinging the ball both ways and that is what I will focus on," he says. "My main aim will be to swing the ball, take wickets with the new ball, and keep things simple because I don't want to go outside my strengths. Getting early breakthroughs is what I will focus on.
"And at the back end, whatever is required in T20 cricket."
A key part of his training for the white-ball season involved bowling continuous blocks of 12 balls, partly to build endurance and partly to check his consistency in execution after balls seven, eight and nine.
"If he was practicing only yorkers, he'd hit the shoe 10 times minimum [out of 12]," Krishnakumar says. "He has has also developed a very good back-of-the-hand slower ball. He will be able to cope with the demands, I'm very hopeful."
Recently, Krishnakumar rang up Nabi for a chat after seeing a video on DC's social handles, in which he was pulled out of the ground by Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka.
Their chat revolved around quick adjustments, but the takeaway from the chat wasn't as much about what he had to do, but how calmly he explained what he he had been trying and how he was going to fix it.
"I've worked with many players over the years, like Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed," Krishnakumar says. "The calmer you are, the better your chances of performing, especially in the IPL. It's not easy to bowl at that level, on pitches that are flatter than even SMAT, where you've got early morning games, evening games in the winter.
"Nabi has that gift of calmness. In my career of nearly 20 years as a bowling coach, I've seen only two like that - Auqib and Wasim Jaffer. Whether Jaffer scores 200 or 0, the balance is the same.
"When Nabi was not picked for the IPL last year, I asked him, 'You must be frustrated?' He said, 'Sir, my job is to pick up wickets. I'll keep doing that. Selection is not in my hands. When the time is right, they will pick me.' That calmness is a big quality.
"Even if he takes five or seven wickets, or goes wicketless, he is the same. If I ask him, he will say, 'It's okay, I made a mistake, I didn't execute the right balls at the right time.' That's why I feel he will be able to handle pressure."