The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic Twenty20 cricket championship in India, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 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 (T20) rules. Originally known as the Inter-State T20 Championship, it was inaugurated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 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 (2023) 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.Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, 2023–24 Tables, CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
Current teams The competition features the following 38 domestic teams, listed by their 2023–24 groups.
Baroda Chhattisgarh Haryana Hyderabad Jammu and Kashmir Meghalaya Mizoram Mumbai Assam Bihar Chandigarh Himachal Pradesh Kerala Odisha Services Sikkim Andhra Arunachal Pradesh Goa Gujarat Manipur Punjab Railways Saurashtra Bengal Jharkhand Maharashtra Pondicherry Rajasthan Uttarakhand Delhi Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Nagaland Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Vidarbha
Winners
Seasons Winners Runners-up Winning Captain Captain of Runners-up 2006/07 Tamil Nadu PunjabDinesh KartikPankaj Dharmani 2009/10 Maharashtra HyderabadRohit MotwaniAmol Shinde 2010/11 Bengal Madhya PradeshManoj TiwaryMohnish Mishra 2011/12 Baroda PunjabPinal ShahHarbhajan Singh 2012/13 GujaratParthiv PatelMandeep Singh 2013/14 Baroda Uttar PradeshAditya WaghmodeAkshdeep Nath 2014/15 Gujarat PunjabManpreet JunejaGurkeerat Singh 2015/16 Uttar Pradesh BarodaSuresh RainaIrfan Pathan 2016/17 East Zone Central ZoneManoj TiwaryNaman Ojha 2017/18 Delhi RajasthanPradeep SangwanAniket Choudhary 2018/19 Karnataka MaharashtraManish PandeyRahul Tripathi 2019/20 Tamil NaduDinesh Karthik 2020/21 Tamil Nadu BarodaDinesh KarthikKedar Devdhar 2021/22 KarnatakaVijay ShankarManish Pandey 2022/23 Mumbai Himachal PradeshAjinkya RahaneRishi Dhawan 2023/24 Punjab BarodaMandeep SinghKrunal Pandya 2024/25 Mumbai Madhya PradeshShreyas IyerRajat Patidar 2025/26 Jharkhand Haryana Ishan Kishan Ankit Kumar
Finals appearances by team
Team Winner Tamil Nadu 3 1 2021/22 Baroda 2 3 2023/24 Karnataka 2 1 2021/22 Gujarat 2 0 2014/15 Mumbai 2 0 2024/25 Punjab 1 4 2023/24 Maharashtra 1 1 2018/19 Uttar Pradesh 1 1 2015/16 Bengal 1 0 2010/11 East Zone 1 0 2016/17 Delhi 1 0 2017/18 Jharkhand 1 0 2025/26 Madhya Pradesh 0 2 2024/25 Hyderabad 0 1 2009/10 Central Zone 0 1 2016/17 Rajasthan 0 1 2017/18 Himachal Pradesh 0 1 2022/23 Haryana 0 1 2025/26
Tournament records
Team records
Team records Most Trophy wins 3 Tamil Nadu Most consecutive wins including league 15 Karnataka Most consecutive defeats 22 Jammu and Kashmir Largest margin of victory (by runs) By 263 runs Baroda vs Sikkim 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 Date349/5BarodaSikkimEmerald High School Ground, Indore5 December 2024 275/6 Punjab Andhra JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi 262/3 Jharkhand Haryana Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Maharashtra 258/4 Mumbai Sikkim Emerald High School Ground, Indore 252/4 Gujarat Manipur ACA–KDCA Cricket Ground, Mulapadu Source: ESPNcricinfo
Lowest totals Score By Against Venue Date 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 Source: ESPNcricinfo
Highest Individual score Score Name From Against Venue Date 151 Tilak Varma Hyderabad Meghalaya Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium C, Rajkot 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 Source: ESPNcricinfo
See also Deodhar Trophy Duleep Trophy Irani Cup Ranji Trophy Vijay Hazare Trophy
References
External links Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Winners Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2012–13 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on SPORT195