Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy


The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic Twenty20 cricket championship in India, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It is named after former Test cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali.
It is played by the teams from the Ranji Trophy, which is the premier domestic first-class cricket championship in the country. In 2006–07, the inaugural competition was won by Tamil Nadu under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik. The 2025–26 tournament was won by Jharkhand, who defeated Haryana in the final. Tamil Nadu has been the most successful team, winning the trophy three times.

History

The tournament is played under Twenty20 rules. Originally known as the Inter-State T20 Championship, it was inaugurated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the 2006–07 season. Except in 2016–17, the tournament has been contested by teams involved in the Ranji Trophy, 27 at first and currently 38. The format begun with a round-robin stage with the teams divided into zonal groups, with the top teams in each group qualifying for a knockout stage culminating in the final tie. In 2012–13, the BCCI decided to replace the knockout with a Super League consisting of two groups, the winners of which qualified for the final. In June 2016, the BCCI relaunched the competition using zonal teams, as in the Duleep Trophy, but they reverted to the Ranji teams in 2017. Since then, the number of competing teams have increased to 38 and the knockout stage has been restored.

Format

The 38 teams are divided into five Elite groups, namely A, B, C, D, and E. There used to be a Plate group for newer teams but it has been discontinued. There are eight teams in groups A, B, and C who play seven matches each. Groups D and E have seven teams who play six matches each. The top-ranked teams in each group qualify for the knockout stage along with the three best runners-up. The knockout consists of four quarter-final matches, two semi-finals and the final.

Current teams

The competition features the following 38 domestic teams, listed by their 2023–24 groups.

Winners

SeasonsWinnersRunners-upWinning CaptainCaptain of Runners-up
2006/07Tamil NaduPunjabDinesh KartikPankaj Dharmani
2009/10MaharashtraHyderabadRohit MotwaniAmol Shinde
2010/11BengalMadhya PradeshManoj TiwaryMohnish Mishra
2011/12BarodaPunjabPinal ShahHarbhajan Singh
2012/13GujaratPunjabParthiv PatelMandeep Singh
2013/14BarodaUttar PradeshAditya WaghmodeAkshdeep Nath
2014/15GujaratPunjabManpreet JunejaGurkeerat Singh
2015/16Uttar PradeshBarodaSuresh RainaIrfan Pathan
2016/17East ZoneCentral ZoneManoj TiwaryNaman Ojha
2017/18DelhiRajasthanPradeep SangwanAniket Choudhary
2018/19KarnatakaMaharashtraManish PandeyRahul Tripathi
2019/20KarnatakaTamil NaduManish PandeyDinesh Karthik
2020/21Tamil NaduBarodaDinesh KarthikKedar Devdhar
2021/22Tamil NaduKarnatakaVijay ShankarManish Pandey
2022/23MumbaiHimachal PradeshAjinkya RahaneRishi Dhawan
2023/24PunjabBarodaMandeep SinghKrunal Pandya
2024/25MumbaiMadhya PradeshShreyas IyerRajat Patidar
2025/26JharkhandHaryanaIshan KishanAnkit Kumar

Finals appearances by team

TeamWinner
Tamil Nadu312021/22
Baroda232023/24
Karnataka212021/22
Gujarat202014/15
Mumbai202024/25
Punjab142023/24
Maharashtra112018/19
Uttar Pradesh112015/16
Bengal102010/11
East Zone102016/17
Delhi102017/18
Jharkhand102025/26
Madhya Pradesh022024/25
Hyderabad012009/10
Central Zone012016/17
Rajasthan012018/19
Himachal Pradesh012022/23
Haryana012025/26

Tournament records

Highest totals

  • Source: ESPNcricinfo

Lowest totals

  • Source: ESPNcricinfo

Highest Individual score

  • Source: ESPNcricinfo