Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022: All you need to know
India's premier domestic T20 tournament, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 will get underway on October 11. The 2022 edition would see the return of several Indian and Indian Premier League (IPL) stars to T20 cricket. Three-time champions Tamil Nadu won the title last time around and will defend their crown. Here are all other details you need to know ahead of the upcoming season.
Dates and Venues
While the tournament will kickstart on October 11, the final will take place on November 5. 38 teams have been divided into five groups. While group A, B and C will feature eight teams, seven teams are in group E and F. Five cities - Lucknow, Jaipur, Mohali, Indore, Rajkot - will host the group-stage games. The knock-out games will be played in Kolkata.
Round-Robin format
Teams within a particular group will clash once in the League stage. The top two sides from all groups will advance to the next stage. Three pre quarter-finals and four quarter-finals, two semi-finals will follow the group stage. Subsequently, the finalists will be decided to lock horns in the summit clash. Unlike previous seasons, no plate group is available this time around.
SMAT 2022-23: Groups
Elite A (Rajkot): Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Mumbai, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Vidarbha Elite B (Jaipur): Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh Elite C (Mohali): Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu, and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Services Elite D (Indore): Andhra Pradesh, Baroda, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Saurashtra -- Advertisement Elite E (Lucknow): Bengal, Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu
Previous winners of the tourney
So far, 14 editions of the tournament have been played. With three titles, Tamil Nadu is the most-successful team. Karnataka, Baroda and Gujarat have clinched the title twice. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, East Zone and Delhi are one-time winners. Notably, Tamil Nadu clinched the last two editions of the tournament and would be eyeing a hat-trick of titles.
A look at the top records
Karnataka hold the record of most successive wins in the tournament (14). Jammu & Kashmir have suffered most consecutive defeats (22). Karnataka's score of 250/3 against Sikkim in 2019 is the highest in the tournament's history. Tripura has the lowest team score in the tournament, 30 vs Jharkhand in 2009. Vidarbha's 130-run victory against Sikkim last year in the biggest in terms of runs.
Presenting the individual records
Baroda's Kedar Devdhar has scored the most runs in the tournament (2,282). Mumbai's Shreyas Iyer's 147 against Sikkim in 2019 is the highest individual score in the competition. With 99 wickets, Uttar Pradesh's Piyush Chawla is the highest wicket-taker. Services' Deepak Punia's 6/14 against Haryana in 2015 are the best bowling figures. Kedar Devdhar has also played most matches in the tournament (80).
Tamil Nadu's run in the final
Tamil Nadu is the only team to appear in three successive finals. They appeared in the summit clash in the last three editions. While they lost to Karnataka in the 2019-20 event, they defeated Baroda and Karnataka in the subsequent competitions.
