Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022-23: All You Need to Know – Format, Groups, Squads, Teams, Schedule and More

After riveting action throughout the Duleep Trophy and the Irani Cup, which were sandwiched by a red-ball series between India A and New Zealand A, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will kick off the white-ball leg of the Indian domestic season for 2022-23. 

India’s National T20 Championship, the tournament is set for its 15th edition since the inaugural iteration of the same back in 2006-07. The competition is named after the former India batter Syed Mushtaq Ali, who was known for his power-hitting. 

Over the years, the SMAT has been an ideal platform for India’s domestic players to showcase their mettle in the shortest format and audition for higher honours, with national selectors and IPL scouts watching them closely. 

Strong performances in the SMAT have historically earned players hefty paycheques at the annual IPL auction, which gives them an opportunity to bid for the India cap in T20Is. 

Format

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will once again feature the country’s best 38 senior domestic teams. These sides will be divided into five different groups: Elite A, B, C, D, and E. Elite Groups A, B and C will include eight teams each, while Elite Groups D and E have seven teams apiece. 

According to the latest format adopted by the BCCI’s technical committee, table toppers from each of the groups will make the quarterfinal round directly. The remaining three sides for the four quarterfinal fixtures will be determined via the pre-quarterfinal stage. 

At the pre-quarterfinal stage, runners-up from each of the Elite Groups as well as the next best side from the remaining participants across all groups in terms of points earned during the group stage will contest knock-out games for a quarterfinal slot. 

Winners of the quarterfinals will make the cut for the semis, the winners of which will play the tournament finale. 

Groups

Elite A: Mumbai, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Vidarbha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram

Elite B: Puducherry, Punjab, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Manipur, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh

Elite C: Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Services, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala

Elite D: Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Baroda, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Saurashtra

Elite E: Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand

Schedule 

Venues

Jaipur, Indore, Rajkot, Mohali, Chandigarh and Lucknow will be hosting the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022-23. 

Previous season Winners 

How to Watch on TV and Live Streaming Details

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 2022-23 Live Streaming Details: When and where to watch SMAT 2022 LIVE on TV, Squads, Schedule and Venues

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022-23 Squads

Hyderabad: Tanmay Agarwal (Captain), N Tilak Varma (vc), T Ravi Teja, Rahul Buddi, Prateek Reddy (Wicket-Keeper), CV Milind, Mickhil Jaiswal, Tanay Tyagarajan, Sai Pragnay Reddy (Wicket-keeper), Rakshan Reddi, Mohammed Siraj, MSR Charan, Bhagat Varma, Alankrit Agarwal, Jayram Reddy, B Punnaiah, Trishank Gupta, E Sanketh, Shreyas Valla, P Nitesh Reddy

Jammu & Kashmir: Shubham Pundir (C), Abdul Samad (vc), Qamran Iqbal, Shubham Khajuria, Henan Malik, Jatin Wadhwan, Fazil Rashid (WK), Shivansh Sharma (WK), Parvez Rasool, Nasir Lone, Auqib Nabi, Abid Mushtaq, Yudhvir Singh, Mujtaba Yousuf, Sunil Kumar 

Delhi: Nitish Rana (captain), Himmat Singh (vc), Hiten Dalal, Yash Dhull, Anuj Rawat (wk), Hrithik Shokeen, Ayush Badoni, Lalit Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Simarjeet Singh, Mayank Yadav, Shivank Vashisht, Dev Lakra, Pradeep Sangwan, Pranshu Vijayaran.

Jharkhand: Virat Singh (C), Shahbaz Nadeem (vc), Nazim Siddique, Kumar Deobrat, Kumar Suraj, Pankaj Kumar (wk), Manishi, Bala Krishna, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Anukul Roy, Vivekanand Tiwary, Aayush Bhardwaj, Rajandeep Singh, Vikash Singh, Rahul Shukla, Supriyo Chakraborty

Kerala: Sanju Samson (C), Rohan S. Kunnummal, Vishnu Vinod, Shoun Roger, Sachin Baby, Abdul Basith, Krishna Prasad, Mohammed Azharudeen, Sijomon Joseph, S. Midhun, Vyshak Chandran, Manu Krishnan, Basil Thampi, N.P. Basil, F. Fanoos, K.M. Asif, Sachin Suresh

Bengal: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Writtick Chatterjee, Abhishek Das, Ritwik Roy Choudhary, Sudip Gharami, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Agniva Pan (wicketkeeper), Abishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pradipta Pramanik, Karan Lal, Sujit Kumar Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Ishan Porel, Sayan Shekhar Mondal, Ravi Kumar, Akash Gathak, Geet Puri

Karnataka: Mayank Agarwal (C), Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Abhinav Manohar, Chethan LR, Manoj Bhandage, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesa Suchith, Luvnith Sisodia, Sharath BR, Koushik V, Vyshak V, Kaverappa, Venkatesh M.

Punjab: Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mandeep Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Ramandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh Brar, Mayank Markande, Siddharth Kaul, Baltej Singh, Ashwani, Anmol Malhotra, Sanvir Singh, Pukhraj Mann

Tamil Nadu: B Aparajith (captain), M S Washington Sundar (vice-captain), B Sai Sudharsan, T Natarajan, M Shahrukh Khan, R Sai Kishore, R Sanjay Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, M Siddharth, Varun Chakravarthy, J Suresh Kumar, C Hari Nishaanth, R Silambarasan, M Ashwin, G Ajitesh, M Mohammad and Abhishek Tanwar

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Hardik Tamore (wk), Prashant Solanki, Dhaval Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Aman Khan, Sairaj Patil, Mohit Awasthi.

Odisha: Abhishek Raut (C), Aasirwad Swain (wk), Shantanu Mishra, Anshuman Rath, Sujit Lenka (wk), Rakesh Pattnaik, Mushtaq Beg, Suryakant Pradhan, Debabrata Pradhan, Om T Munde, Subhranshu Senapati, Sameer Mohanty, Sushil Barik, Jayanta Behera, Tarini Sa, Rajesh Mohanty

Players to Watch

Abdul Samad 

Samad’s encouraging pre-auction retention with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) followed an unfortunate sacking from the side for most of the IPL 2022. But the SMAT 2022-23 offers him a fantastic opportunity to remind everyone of his promise and potential with the bat. The J&K hard-hitter enters the SMAT with a domestic T20 strike-rate of 144.29 after 46 matches. 

T Natarajan 

On Indian team comeback trail, Natarajan will be eyeing strong performances for Tamil Nadu at the forthcoming SMAT 2022-23. He will be keen to build on his gains for SRH in IPL 2022, where the left-arm quick took 18 wickets from 11 matches. 

Washington Sundar 

Fellow TN cricketer and another player aiming for an Indian team comeback is Washington, whose injury spree has coincided with a fall in the pecking order. The spin allrounder is an outstanding defensive spin option and also a capable middle-order batter. He will be looking to make his mark at the SMAT and earn the selectors’ faith back in him. 

Shahrukh Khan 

Hero of defending champions Tamil Nadu’s title win last season, talented powerhitter Shahrukh Khan averaged 33.66 with a strike-rate of 157.81 throughout SMAT 2022-23. His feat included a match-winning knock of 33 not out off 15 balls in the final at Delhi. He will be determined to repeat his performances with bat in hand. 

Prithvi Shaw

Inarguably the finest young top-order aggressor in the country right now, Prithvi Shaw enters the SMAT 2022-23 after a fruitful IPL 2022 to his name for Delhi Capitals (DC). Dismayed by absence from India’s T20I side, Shaw blasted 283 runs at a strike-rate of 152.97 for the Capitals. He will play the SMAT intent on dominating attacks and leave a befitting reminder for the selectors, who have curiously continued ignoring him in the white-ball set-up. 

Prediction

Rallying on their overall depth and quality, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka made the finals of the SMAT last season. The two teams will be expected to make the semifinals this time as well, given the talent at their disposal. 

They should be joined by domestic powerhouses Mumbai, who have most of their stars available to them. The fourth semifinalists could be UP considering their fast-bowling group, which gives them an edge over most opponents. 

With the ball and the bat, Tamil Nadu have the arsenal to repeat their title-winning campaign from last season and could well be holding the coveted SMAT trophy in their hands again.