There’s no doubt that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the top T20 tournament in India. But it’s the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) that supplies future IPL stars.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organises the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in the middle of the Indian domestic cricket season. It’s an annual T20 tournament played by several state teams.
In this article, we’ll look at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy’s format and the points system. But before that, let’s see which state teams participate in the T20 competition.
Which Teams Participate in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy?
All BCCI-affiliated state associations and two pan-India teams participate in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. These same teams also feature in the Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.
So each state in India has one team, though two additional teams from Gujarat and Maharashtra also participate. Railways and Services are the two pan-Indian teams in the competition.
That makes up for 38 teams in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy every season. Earlier, 27 teams participated, but the number increased after new teams from northeast India entered the competition.
Here are the 38 teams that participate in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy:
Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Baroda, Bengal, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Mumbai, Nagaland, Odisha, Pondicherry, Punjab, Railways, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Services, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Vidarbha.
What is the format of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy?
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy’s format is quite different from Ranji Trophy’s. There are four elite groups and one plate group in the Ranji Trophy.
Even SMAT has five groups in total, though there’s no elite or plate group classification. The 38 teams are split into five groups, with the first three having eight teams each and the last two having seven each.
During the league stage, teams play against their group opponents once. That means teams in the first three groups play seven matches each, while the teams in the other two groups play six matches each.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockouts. The toppers along with the sixth-best team directly move into the quarter-finals, while the next four best teams play in the pre-quarter-finals.
After the pre-quarter-finals, the two winners will enter the quarter-finals. The winners of the four quarter-finals will then proceed to the semi-finals. And finally, the semi-final winners will take on each other in the summit clash to claim the trophy.
What is the points system in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy?
The points system is pretty straightforward in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. For every outright win in the league stage, teams get four points. If a match ends with no result, then both teams will share two points each.
Here’s the points structure for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win | 4 |
| No Result | 2 |
| Loss | 0 |
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