Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy is all set to begin from 10 January 2021. This year there are lots of concerns around the Tournament as this is the first domestic event post-COVID and also major IPL stars are going to be a part of this edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Another major concern regarding this edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy is that the mini-auction for IPL 2021 will take place after his tournament, where IPL franchises are going to keep their eyes on the players performing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy along with the fans.

Also, many big names will be seen playing this edition Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Let’s have a look at them:

Dinesh Karthik
Suryakumar Yadav
Suresh Raina Rinku Singh Shivam Mavi Priyam Garg
Shikhar Dhawan
Robin Uthappa
Sanju Samson
Ambati Rayudu
Vijay Shankar
Ishant Sharma
Ishan Kishan
Nitish Rana
Shivam Dube
Tushar Deshpande
Dhawal Kulkarni
Saurabh Tiwary
Jaydev Unadkat
Varun Aaron
Riyan Parag
Sarfaraz Khan

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will start on 10 January and will end on 31st January 2021. The venues chosen are Bangalore, Kolkata, Vadodara, Indore, Mumbai, and Chennai to stage the league matches of the tournament and the newly built Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the knockout matches in a bio-secure bubble.

The division of 38 teams has been done dividing them into five Elite groups of A, B, C, D, and E. The eight new state teams like Chandigarh, Bihar, and outfits from NorthEast will be a part of the Plate group. Although another major concern is that the Mumbai government is yet to give permission to play outdoor sports but has been selected as the host for group E where Mumbai is also a part of it and thus will play on their home ground itself.

Let’s have a loook at the groupings:

Elite A: Venue Bangalore
Teams: Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways and Tripura.

Elite B: Venue Kolkata
Teams: Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Hyderabad.

Elite C: Venue Vadodara
Teams: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda and Uttarakhand.

Elite D: Venue Indore
Teams: Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

Elite E: Venue Mumbai
Teams: Haryana, Andhra, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Puducherry.

Plate: Venue Chennai Teams: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh

Another news coming up regarding the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is that Shikhar Dhawan has been named the captain of the Delhi Team and Unmukt Chand, who last year shifted to Uttrakhand has been also brought back.

Also, Saurashtra has announced Jaydev Unadkat as their captain. Not only this, Suresh Raina, who took the retirement with Dhoni is also all set to return to domestic cricket and is going to lead Team Uttar Pradesh in the tournament.

Unfortunately, Dhoni has decided against coming out of his retirement to play in domestic cricket in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he has not being named in the Jharkhand squad.

Also, Yuvraj Singh is all set to come out of retirement and play domestic cricket again as he is being named in Punjab’s 30-strong list of probables for the tournament. Also, it has been heard the Sreesanth will be joining the preparatory camp after his ban has been lifted off.