The 2025 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be played from November 26 to December 18 across 14 venues in six cities in India. A total of 32 teams will compete in the Elite Division, divided into four groups of eight each, while six teams will play in the Plate Division.

Top players such as Suryakumar Yadav, world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, and young batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi will feature in this year’s tournament.

The Elite Group A matches will be played in Lucknow, while Kolkata will host the Elite Group B fixtures. Elite Group C matches are scheduled in Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad will host Elite Group D games. Indore will host the knockout matches, including the final. The Plate Division matches will be played across three venues in Pune from November 26 to December 6.

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SMAT 2025 Tournament Format

The top two teams from each of the four Elite groups will qualify for the quarter-finals. Then, four teams will move to the semi-finals, and two teams will play the final.

In the Plate group, the top two teams in the points table will play the final.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Groups 2025

Elite Group A: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Mumbai, Odisha, Railways, Vidarbha
Elite Group B: Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa, Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh
Elite Group C: Baroda, Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Pondicherry, Punjab, Services
Elite Group D: Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand
Plate Group: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim

SMAT 2025 Squads (Selected Teams)

Andhra Pradesh: Ricky Bhui (C), Ashwin Hebbar, Pyla Avinash, Srikar Bharat, Shaik Rasheed, Saurabh Kumar, Prithvi Raj, Satyanarayana Raju, KV Sasikanth, Tripurana Vijay, Bailapudi Yeswanth, Sai Rahul, Panduranga Raju, Cheepurapalli Stephen, Munish Varma

Assam: Riyan Parag (C), Sibsankar Roy, Abdul Ajij Kuraishi, Avinov Choudhury, Denish Das, Mrinmoy Dutta, Sumit Ghadigaonkar, Saahil Jain, Jitumoni Kalita, Bhargab Lahkar, Mukhtar Hussain, Nibir Deka, Pradyun Saikia, Rhot Sen, Akash Sengupta

Chhattisgarh: Amandeep Khare (C), Ajay Mandal, Aditya Sarwate, Shashank Singh, Shubham Agarwal, Amit Kumar Yadav, Ayush Pandey, Shashank Chandrakar, Gagandeep Singh, Sanidhya Hurkat, Sourabh Majumdar, Mayank Verma, Mayank Yadav, Anand Rao, Ravi Kiran, Prateek Yadav

Kerala: Sanju Samson (C), Ahammed Imran, Rohan Kunnummal, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Salman Nizar, Vishnu Vinod, Abdul Basith, Ankit Sharma, KM Asif, MD Nidheesh, Vignesh Puthur, Sibin Gireesh, Krishna Devan, Krishna Prasad, Saly Samson, Akhil Scaria, Sharafuddeen

Mumbai: Shardul Thakur (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Sairaj Patil, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar, Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Tushar Deshpande, Irfan Umair, Hardik Tamore (wk)

Odisha: Biplab Samantray (C), Subhranshu Senapati, Govinda Poddar, Aditya Rout, Anil Parida, Badal Biswal, Sambit Baral, Gaurav Choudhary, Sourav Gouda, Sarbeswar Mohanty, Pappu Roy, Sandeep Pattnaik, Prayash Singh, Rajesh Mohanty, Swastik Samal, Subham Satrujit, Aashirwad Swain

Railways: Karn Sharma (C), Suraj Ahuja, Kush Marathe, Ashutosh Sharma, Atal Bihari Rai, Shubham Chaubey, Shivam Chaudhary, Raj Choudhary, Kunal Yadav, Mohammad Saif, Akshat Pandey, Akash Pandey, Ravi Singh, Navneet Virk, Rahul Sharma

Vidarbha: Harsh Dubey (C), Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Dhruv Shorey, Akshay Wadkar, Nachiket Bhute, Parth Rekhade, Atharva Taide, Yash Thakur, Praful Hinge, Darshan Nalkande, Umesh Yadav, Varun Bisht, Adhyayan Daga, Shivam Deshmukh, Yash Kadam, Dipesh Parwani

Live Streaming and Telecast

Some selected group stage matches of the 2025 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be shown live on the Star Sports Network in India. The matches will also be streamed online on the Jio Hotstar app and website.

The 18th edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, BCCI's premier domestic T20 tournament, gets underway on Wednesday, November 26, across four venues in India. A total of 38 teams will contest for the prestigious trophy in 141 matches. A number of star players will be in action, thereby making this one of the most exciting editions in recent times.

Baroda cricket has received a major boost with Hardik Pandya expected to play most of the matches in the tournament. The star Indian all-rounder has been out of action since getting injured during the Asia Cup 2025. His return to competitive cricket marks an important step, as he has not played since August and was also left out of the upcoming home ODI series against South Africa.

A PTI report quoted the Baroda head coach saying, "He has not yet joined the squad, but we expect him to play the majority of the games. His presence always provides a big boost to the squad." His comeback is highly anticipated as it could shape Baroda’s campaign in the tournament.

Pandya Eyes Match-Fitness Ahead of India Selection

Hardik Pandya remains in contention for India’s T20I squad for the South Africa series, but he must prove his match fitness first. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy gives the Mumbai Indians captain a golden opportunity to showcase his readiness and strengthen his case for a national comeback in December 2025.

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The Indian team management is keen for Pandya to regain full fitness ahead of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in India in February. Baroda will begin their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign on Wednesday against Bengal, although it is still uncertain whether Hardik will be available for the opening match.