The Long Run-up of Auqib Nabi Dar

Better Late Than Never

- Press Trust of India

‘Better late than never" is a phrase that fits Augib Nabi Dar like a perfectly upright seam.

At 29, when most fast bowlers are either established or quietly drifting out of the spotlight, Nabi has finally arrived through patience, persistence and a refusal to let geography decide his fate.

His journey has not followed the straightest of lines, but then neither does the sharp outswinger that has come to define him as he walked away with a whopping deal of Rs 8.40 crore at the IPL auctions in Abu Dhabi.

Nabi hails from Kreeri, a tehsil that sits even farther from Baramulla, both in distance and in access.

It is not the kind of place that produces professional cricketers with ease. Nets are scarce, pitches unpredictable, and exposure almost nonexistent.

For a young fast bowler with big dreams, Kreeri offered little by way of infrastructure to grow, sharpen or even be seen. What it did offer was resilience, born out of necessity.