The 19th edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s premier domestic T20 tournament, begins on Saturday, November 14, with 32 teams divided into four Elite groups of eight playing across Mumbai, Mohali, New Chandigarh, Kolkata and Indore. The league stage runs to November 26, followed by the Super League from November 30 and the final on December 6.
Sixteen matches open the tournament on Saturday. The 9:00 AM games see Chandigarh face Baroda at the BKC in Mumbai, Punjab take on Haryana in Indore, Maharashtra meet Puducherry in Mohali and Hyderabad play Mumbai in Kolkata. At 11:00 AM, Gujarat face Odisha at Eden Gardens, Tripura meet Andhra in New Chandigarh, Saurashtra play Bihar in Indore and defending champions Jharkhand begin their title defence against Mizoram at the Wankhede. The afternoon brings Rajasthan against Uttar Pradesh, Railways against Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh against Assam and Vidarbha against Goa, before Uttarakhand meet Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh face Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir play Delhi and Karnataka take on Bengal in the 4:30 PM games.
The groups are evenly spread. Group A has Bengal, Baroda, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh; Group B has Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Railways, Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu; Group C has Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry and Tripura; and Group D has Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Vidarbha.
The headline act of the opening day is in Indore, where 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi captains Bihar for the first time, against Saurashtra. The teenage batting sensation will lead the side for its first two matches, against Saurashtra and Railways, before joining the India A squad for the Rising Stars Asia Cup in Doha from November 19 to 29.
The tournament is packed with international names. Suryakumar Yadav captains Mumbai, who open against Hyderabad in Kolkata, Sanju Samson leads Kerala against Madhya Pradesh in New Chandigarh, and Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy and Rajat Patidar will all represent their domestic sides. With the IPL mini-auction scheduled for December 16 in Goa, the SMAT is the last shop window for uncapped players to catch the franchises’ eyes, and for established stars to press their case ahead of the retention deadline on November 17.
Defending champions Jharkhand, who won the title last season, start as the team to beat in Group A, while the Plate group, featuring six teams, is being hosted by Nagaland from November 14 to 24, with the final on November 24.
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