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The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic twenty20 cricket championship, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The tournament is named after former Test cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali. The tournament features teams from the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic first-class cricket competition.
The first edition held in 2006–07 was won by Tamil Nadu and the team was then led by captain Dinesh Karthik. Punjab are the defending champions, defeating Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023–24 final. Tamil Nadu holds the record for the most titles in the tournament, having won the trophy thrice.
History
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, originally called the Inter-State T20 Championship follows Twenty20 rules. The BCCI established the event in 2006, with the first season being 2006-07. The tournament has featured teams participating in the Ranji Trophy, starting with 27 teams and increasing to 38 by 2023. The 2016–17 edition was as exception from this.
The tournament format formed with a round-robin stage, dividing teams into zonal groups. In which, the top teams advanced to a knockout stage leading to the final. In the 2012–13 season, the BCCI made a change, replacing the knockout format with a Super League of two groups, whose winners would compete in the final. Meanwhile, the format was revived with zonal teams in June 2016, similar to the Duleep Trophy, but returned to Ranji Trophy teams in 2017. From 2017, the number of participating teams has extended to 38, and the knockout stage has been reinstated.
Who is Syed Mushtaq Ali?
Syed Mushtaq Ali was an Indian cricketer, who had played as a right-handed opening batter and slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler. He was born on December 17, 1914, and passed away on June 18, 2005.
He holds the record for scoring the first overseas Test century by an Indian (112 against England at Old Trafford in Manchester in 1936. In 1995, he received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour awarded by the BCCI for a former player.
Career
CK Nayudu, the first captain of the Indian national cricket team, observed Syed Mushtaq Ali when the latter was at age 13 and helped him develop his cricketing skills. The Indore-born cricketer has scored four first-class hundreds during the 1936 tour. Debuted in January 1934, he has featured in 11 Tests against England in Calcutta and last played in February 1952 in Madras at age 38.
While studying at the Aligarh Muslim University, he represented multiple teams in first-class cricket from 1930 to 1964, including Holkar, Central India, and Maharashtra. He featured for Holkar in the Ranji Trophy alongside notable players like Nayudu.
In 1964 he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of India. He also became a life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club for his contributions to cricket.
Ali published his Autobiography, ‘Cricket Delightful’ in 1967. He passed at the age of 90 in 2005. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a domestic cricket tournament in India is named in his honor.
Awards
- Padma Shri: Awarded in 1964
- C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award: Awarded in 1995
- Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: A Twenty20 domestic cricket championship in India, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, featuring teams from the Ranji Trophy. The inaugural season took place in 2008–09.
Format
The total 38 teams participating in the tournament are organized into five Elite groups– A, B, C, D, and E. There was a Plate group used for newer teams but it has been suspended. Groups A, B, and C each consist of eight teams, with each team playing seven matches. Meanwhile, Groups D and E have seven teams that play six matches each. The top-ranked teams from each of the groups advance to the knockout stage, alongside the three best runners-up. The knockout phase of the tournament includes four quarter-finals, two semi-finals, and the final.
2023–24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
The 2023–24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy marked the sixteenth edition of the tournament. The T20 tournament was held from October 16 to November 6, 2023, and it featured all 38 Ranji Trophy teams. During this season, teams were divided into five groups– three with eight teams and two with seven. Punjab won the championship, claiming their maiden title by defeating Baroda by 20 runs in the all-important final.
Current teams
The competition features the following 38 domestic teams, listed by their 2023–24 groups.
Group A
- Baroda
- Chhattisgarh
- Haryana
- Hyderabad
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Mumbai
Group B
- Assam
- Bihar
- Chandigarh
- Himachal Pradesh
- Kerala
- Odisha
- Services
- Sikkim
Group C
- Andhra
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Manipur
- Punjab
- Railways
- Saurashtra
Group D
- Bengal
- Jharkhand
- Maharashtra
- Pondicherry
- Rajasthan
- Uttarakhand
- Vidarbha
Group E
- Delhi
- Karnataka
- Madhya Pradesh
- Nagaland
- Tamil Nadu
- Tripura
- Uttar Pradesh
Winners
| Seasons | Winners | Runners-up |
| 2006/07 | Tamil Nadu | Punjab |
| 2009/10 | Maharashtra | Hyderabad |
| 2010/11 | Bengal | Madhya Pradesh |
| 2011/12 | Baroda | Punjab |
| 2012/13 | Gujarat | Punjab |
| 2013/14 | Baroda | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2014/15 | Gujarat | Punjab |
| 2015/16 | Uttar Pradesh | Baroda |
| 2016/17 | East Zone | Central Zone |
| 2017/18 | Delhi | Rajasthan |
| 2018/19 | Karnataka | Maharashtra |
| 2019/20 | Karnataka | Tamil Nadu |
| 2020/21 | Tamil Nadu | Baroda |
| 2021/22 | Tamil Nadu | Karnataka |
| 2022/23 | Mumbai | Himachal Pradesh |
| 2023/24 | Punjab | Baroda |
Tournament records
Team records
| Team records | ||
| Most Trophy wins | 3 | Tamil Nadu |
| Most consecutive wins including league | 14 | Karnataka |
| Most consecutive defeats | 22 | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Largest margin of victory (by runs) | By 179 runs | Andhra vs Nagaland |
| Largest margin of victory (by wickets) | By 10 wickets | 30 times |
| Largest margin of victory (by balls remaining) | 100 balls | Jharkhand vs Tripura |
Highest totals
| Score | By | Against | Venue |
| 275/6 | Punjab | Andhra | JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi |
| 258/4 | Mumbai | Sikkim | Emerald High School Ground, Indore |
| 252/4 | Gujarat | Manipur | ACA–KDCA Cricket Ground, Mulapadu |
| 250/3 | Karnataka | Services | Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex, Vizianagaram |
| 246/5 | Railways | Arunachal Pradesh | JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi |
Lowest totals
| Score | By | Against | Venue |
| 30 | Tripura | Jharkhand | Tata Digwadih Stadium, Dhanbad |
| 40 | Manipur | Punjab | Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur |
| 44 | Assam | Delhi | Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara |
| 49 | Sikkim | Gujarat | Lalabhai Contractor Stadium, Surat |
| 50 | Mizoram | Uttarakhand | Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot |
Highest Individual score
| Score | Name | From | Against | Venue |
| 147 | Shreyas Iyer | Mumbai | Sikkim | Emerald High School Ground, Indore |
| 146* | Puneet Bisht | Meghalaya | Mizoram | Guru Nanak College Ground, Chennai |
| 137* | Mohammed Azharuddeen | Kerala | Mumbai | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
| 134 | Prithvi Shaw | Mumbai | Assam | Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot |
| 129* | Manish Pandey | Karnataka | Services | Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex, Vizianagram |
