New Delhi, Nov 13 — Several top Indian stars will be in action in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which gets underway from Saturday with 38 teams in action across the Elite and Plate divisions in India's domestic premier T20 tournament.
Eyes will turn to the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, among others, as the players set out for their goals in their separate points of their careers.
Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners and the national selectors will have their eyes on the tournament as the IPL retention deadline ahead of the December auction is November 17. Only two rounds of matches will have taken place by then, which will make the players leave strong impressions in their opening games of the season.
India will also pick their squads for the Sri Lanka T20I series, which begins on December 22, as players will have a chance to earn recalls in the Indian team.
SKY has been named Mumbai's captain for the season, and he will look to have strong outings as he is eyeing a return to the Indian team after being left out despite having led the side to the 2026 T20 title.
He was also out of form in the IPL 2026, and although there is no threat to his place in the Mumbai Indians, SKY will want to have runs on his back as soon as possible.
Then there will be Bhuvneshwar, who had an underwhelming return to international cricket after nearly four years. However, he picked only one wicket across the four innings he played in New Zealand. A good SMAT would be important for him to be in the squad for the Sri Lanka series.
Shami will also be in the spotlight after retiring from Test cricket recently. He still has an India return in his heart and might want to play the ODI World Cup 2027. The speedster would be looking to find a way back through.
Eyes will also remain on 15-year-old Sooryavanshi, who is on the other side of his career in comparison to the above-mentioned greats. The teenage sensation has been a revelation in the IPL and for India, and has been named captain of Bihar for the first two games in the SMAT, as he will later join the India A squad for the Men’s Rising Stars Asia Cup, a 50-over tournament that gets underway from November 19.
Sanju Samson, Varun Chakravarthy, Rajat Patidar, Prithvi Shaw, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Yash Dayal are among other notable names set to play in the competition, which will last 23 days, with the final on December 6. While Elite and Plate competitions begin on Saturday, the Plate final will be held on November 24 and the Elite one on December 6.
When and where to watch SMAT 2026?
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2026 will be available on the JioHotstar app and website for live streaming, while select matches will also be telecast on Star Sports.