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Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: The nursery that provides T20 stars to Indian cricket
Come 10th of January and with the start of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy the Indian domestic cricket would be once again up and running after a long covid-19 hiatus. 38 teams representing various Indian regions would battle it out for the prestigious T20 crown in matches that would be held as far-flung as Chennai and Kolkata. In total six cities will host the group stages of the tournament before the bandwagon moves to the largest Indian stadium Motera for the knockout games. It is not for nothing that this tournament was chosen for starting the curtailed domestic season. In a short span of just 12 seasons since its inauguration in 2006-07 (it wasn’t played in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons) the shortest format tourney has carved a niche for itself. Stars like Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav, who stole the show at this year’s IPL will be showcasing their skills at this tournament. However, all eyes would be fixed on S. Sreesanth, the Indian fast bowler who is making a comeback in competitive cricket after seven long years. Why is it called Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy? As it has been a tradition in Indian cricket of naming trophies after the greats, this was also renamed after being started as an Inter-State zonal tournament where teams first competed with teams of their zone and then the zonal winners and runners up would be divided into two group and the group winners would compete with each other in the finals. The tournament was halted for two years with the launch of the Indian Premier League as the premium domestic T20 tournament. However, in 2009, the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to bring the trophy back and renamed it after one of the most stylish and aggressive Indian batsmen Syed Mushtaq Ali, who represented the country in 11 Test only, mainly due to the fact that when he was in his prime, precious years were lost to World War-2. Starting his career in 1936, he played the last game in 1952. In the domestic circuit though, the legend played more than 200 games and scored more than 13,000 runs, and picked 162 wickets. The changing nature of the tournament After being repackaged in 2009, the tournament has seen a fair bit of tweaking in its format. Initially started as an inter-state zonal series, with two stages of the competition, the zonal group stage and the final group stage, it was changed into two different stages of Zonal group stage and Knockouts in the year 2009. This continued till the 2011-12 season. With the start of the 2012-13 season, the knockout system was replaced with the Super League stage where the zonal winners and runners-up were redrawn into two groups and the winners of each group then competed in a final. Even this format couldn’t sustain its viability and the apex cricketing body in India decided to change the format once again in 2015-16 seasons and instead of making teams compete on a zonal basis, they were drawn into four groups. The two teams from those four groups were then again re-drawn into two further groups with this stage being called the Super League stage. As if its structure hasn’t already been twisted enough, the BCCI came with a totally different plan in the very next season where after the zonal stage competition ended, combined zonal teams played in the Super League instead of the zonal winners. The winner and runner-up in this tournament were now decided on the basis of points, instead of a final being played to determine the winner. As expected, this did not last post the season and the old format of teams first competing on a zonal basis and then participating in two groups in a Super League was reinstated for the 2017-18 tournament. Though previously it was the BCCI that was adventurous with the structure of the tournament, this time around the Supreme Court and Lodha Committee decided to play the ball. With the court asking the board to make sure that each state and union territory was represented in the domestic competitions of the BCCI, a total of 37 teams participated in the 2018-19 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The teams, instead of being divided into zones were divided into five groups with three groups having seven teams and two groups having eight teams. At the Super League stage, the top two teams from each group were divided into two groups and the winners then competed in the final. In the 2019-20 season, the same format continued with one change that after the Super League stage, instead of selecting the top two teams, the top four teams were selected and two semi-finals decided which two teams would finally compete for the trophy. Now in 2021, a totally new format, akin to any previous one has been introduced with the introduction of Plate groups on the ground of Ranji Trophy. With 38 teams divided into five Elite and one Plate groups, the top team from each group along with two best second-placed teams from the Elite groups will qualify for the knockout stage. At the knockout stage, the teams would compete with each other in the quarterfinals and semifinals before qualifying for the summit clash. The nursery of future stars Right from the 2009-10 season, the Mushtaq Ali Trophy has given something or the other to the IPL to give to the world. In the inaugural edition after the revamp, it gave the likes of Paul Valthaty and Shikhar Dhawan who made merry in the 2011 season of the IPL. In the following season Manoj Tiwary the leading run-scorer of the season made a good fortune in his stint with the Indian team his only hundred came the same year against West Indies in Chennai. Another find of the tournament was Mohammed Shami, who too played for the winning team Bengal that season in 2011. Usually held before the IPL, it became a consistent scouting procedure for the tournament from the 2012 edition onwards. Mayank Agarwal and Siddarth Kaul found their way into the IPL from th\e 2012 edition while Hardik Pandya found his way into the Mumbai set up from the 2013 edition, although he really blossomed into a player post the 2014 season. In the 2014 season, two Punjab players shone in both Mushtaq Ali as well as IPL and they were Sandeep Sharma and Manan Vohra. From Harpreet Singh to Aditya Tare to Jaidev Undakat and Ankit Rajpoot, you name the player in the current crop of the Indian setup or the IPL and he would have without a doubt done exceedingly well in the Mushtaq Ali before excelling at IPL or international level. The latest being Devdutt Padikkal and T. Natarajan. Most successful sides of the tournament The best part of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy so far has been the uncertainty of winners. In the past 12 seasons, one can't pick out a particular team that has reigned supreme at the championship. Although with Karnataka’s rise in the last two seasons, it might become an incredible force in the history of the tournament. In total, three teams i.e. Karnataka, Baroda, and Gujarat have been able to win the trophy twice while Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh have one it once each. In one season, which was played between the zones, more on the lines of Duleep Trophy or Deodhar Trophy, the championship was won by East Zone. In terms of playing the finals, Punjab has made it to the most number of finals. In total, the North Indian state has reached four finals but hasn’t been able to win any. While Tamil Nadu won the inaugural edition in 2006-07, defeating Punjab in the finals, Maharashtra defeated Hyderabad in 2009-10 finals. Bengal then won the 2010-11 season defeating Madhya Pradesh, it was the same season where Madhya Pradesh star Harpreet Singh even shone with Deccan Chargers in the IPL. Post that Punjab qualified for two finals, beating Baroda in 2011-12 and Gujarat in 2012-13. The two Gujarat sides also shared the next two trophies when Baroda defeated Uttar Pradesh in 2013-14 and Gujarat defeated Punjab once again in 2014-15. Uttar Pradesh won their inaugural title in the 2015-16 season exacting their revenge of the 2013-14 season by defeating Baroda in the finals. While the 2016-17 season was a zonal affair, the capital Delhi won the 2017-18 thrilling season by defeating Rajasthan in a lame encounter in the final. The next two seasons have been won by Karnataka which will be looking to make a hat trick this season.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021: Teams, Squads, Venues, Schedule and everything you need to know about the tournament
The domestic T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will kickstart the Indian Cricket’s curtailed domestic season, which has been marred by the rise of covid-19 in the country. The tournament would be played in empty stadiums with all the precautions and protocols for bio-bubble in place. Groups The tournament has been divided into two stages i.e. the Group stage and the Knockout stage. While the group stage games would be played among the 38 teams divided into five elite and one plate groups, the knockout stage would involve the quarter and the semi-finals. Venues The group stages would be played across six venues with Bengaulkiuru hosting group A which involves home team Karnataka, while Kolkata will host Group B which has the home team Bengal in it. Similarly, Baroda will host Group C games while Indore would be hosting the Group D games with Madhya Pradesh as part of the group. Mumbai will host the Group E games and Chennai will be responsible for Plate Group matches. Format Each team in the elite and the plate groups plays the other in a round-robin format and the top teams from each group qualify to the Quarter Finals. However, even after each top team securing a Quarterfinal berth, two spaces would remain and that would go to the two best second position finishers in the elite groups. Schedule The group stage matches would be played from 10th to 19th January at various venues while the knockout stage at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad would begin from 26th January onwards. Squads All the teams have named their squads for the tournament and citing the covid-19 situation, teh BCCI allowed teams to carry 20 players and then increased it further to 22 to make sure that in case of any emergency players are replaced without breaking the bubble. Following is the list of the teams in various groups and their SMA squads. Group A Punjab Mandeep Singh (Captain) Gurkeerat Singh Mann (Vice-Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Harpreet Brar, Siddarth Kaul, Gitansh Khera, Krishan, Alang Anmol Malhotra, Mayank Markande, Rohan Marwaha, Prabhsimran Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Sanvir Singh, Barinder Sran Karnataka Karun Nair (C), Pavan Deshpande (VC), Devdutt Padikkal, Roham Kadam, KV Siddharth, KL Shrijith, BR Sharath, Anirudha Joshi, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jagadeesha Suchith, Pravin Dubey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, Prateek Jain, V Koushik, Ronit More, Darshan MB, Manoj Bhandage, Shubhang Hegde. Jammu & Kashmir Parvez Rasool (C), Shubham Khajuria, Ahmed Omar Bandey, Qamran Iqbal, Suryansh Raina (WK), Abdul Samad, Puneet Kumar, Dorjey Kalyan, Abid Mushtaq, Shubhman Singh Pundir, Nawaz Ul Muneer (WK), Jiyaad Nazir Magrey, Henan Nazir Malik, Usman Pandit, Ram Dayal, Auqib Nabi, Aamir Aziz, Umran Malik, Mujtaba Yusuf and Umar Nazir and five stand bye players namely: Paras Sharma, Ankush Bandral, Vivrant Sharma, Yasir Ahmed and Adil Rashid. Uttar Pradesh Priyam Garg (captain), Karn Sharma (vice-captain), Suresh Raina, Rinku Singh, Madhav Kaushik, Samarth Singh, Shubham Choubey, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohsin Khan, Shivam Mavi, Shiva Singh, Shanu Saini Railways Mrunal Devdhar, Dinesh Mor, Harsh Tyagi, Amit Kuila, T Pradeep, Pratham Singh, Vikrant Rajput, Ananta Saha, Himanshu Sangwan, Saurabh Singh, Kanishk Seth, Karn Sharma, Shivendra Singh, Dhrushant Soni, Navneet Virk Tripura Manisankar Murasingh (Captain)Ajoy Sarkar (Vice-Captain), Kaushal Acharjee, Joydeep Banik, Udiyan Bose, Saurabh Das, Rajat Dey, Bishal Ghosh, Subham Ghosh, Milind Kumar, Pratyush Singh, Rana Dutta, Tushar Saha, Abhijit Sarkar, Samrat Singha, Arkaprabha Sinha Group B Jharkhand Ishan Kishan (c), Pankaj Kumar, Kumar Deobrat, Saurav Tiwari, Uttakarsh Singh, Anand Singh, Virat Singh (vc), Vikash Vishal, Anukul Roy, Shahbaaz Nadeem, Sonu Kumar Singh, Varun Aaron, Rahul Shukla, Monu Kumar Singh, Vivekanand Tiwari, Bala Krishna, Aashish Kumar, Satya Setu Bengal Anustup Majumdar (captain), Shreevats Goswami (vice-captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Sudi Chatterjee, Ishan Porel, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Vivek Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arnab Nandi, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Abhishek Das, Mohammed Kaif, Aritra Chatterjee, Suvankar Bal, Writtick Chatterjee, Prayas Ray Barman, Kaif Ahmed, Ravi Kant Singh. Odisha Subhranshu Senapati (Captain), Pratik Das, Rajesh Dhuper, Sarbeswar Mohanty, Pappu Ray, Govinda Poddar, Suryakant Pradhan, Rajesh Mohanty, Abhishek Raut, Biplab Samantray, Shantanu Mishra, Ankit Yadav, Gourav Chaudhary, Suekesh Heera, Walter Topo, Praveen Loha, Tarini Sa, Ankitkar Jaiswal, Sunil Roul, Ashish Rai Tamil Nadu Dinesh Karthik (c), Vijay Shankar (vc), B Aparajith, B Indrajith, M Shahrukh Khan, C Hari Nishaanth, KB Arun Karthik, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, N Jagadeesan, Aswin Crist, M Mohammed, G Periyasamy, Sandeep Warrier, J Kousik, R Sonu Yadav, M Ashwin, R Sai Kishore, M Siddharth, L Suryapprakash, R S Jaganath Srinivas Hyderabad Tanmay Agarwal Captain), Tilak Varma, Abhirath Reddy, Himalay Agarwal, B Sandeep (Vice-Captain), Buddhi Rahul, Sai Pragnay Reddy, Kolla Sumanth, CV Milind, T Ravi Teja, Ajay Dev Goud, Yudveer Singh, Tanay Tyagarajan, Mickil Jaiswal, Hitesh Yadav, Rakesh Yadav, Prateek Reddy Rakshann Reddi, Karthikeya Kak, MSR Charan Assam Rishav Das (Captain), Abhishek Thakuri (Wicket-keeper), Riyan Parag, Rajjakuddin Ahmed, Arup Das, Amlanjyoti Das, Pritam Das, Pallavkumar Das, Mrinmoy Dutta, Saahil Jain, Mukhtar Hussain, Rahul Singh, Amit Sinha Group C Gujarat Axar Patel (Captain), Priyank Panchal, Piyush Chawla, Chintan Gaja, Chirag Gandhi, Devang Gandhi, Devang Gandhi, Roosh Kalaria, Kshitij Patel, Arzan Nagwaswalla, Jayveer Parmar, Hardik Patel, Karan Patel, Ripal Patel, Tejas Patel, Umang Patel, Urvil Patel, Priyesh Patel, Dhruv Raval Maharashtra Rahul Tripathi (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Naushad Shaikh, Kedar Jadhav, Ranjeet Nikam, Azim Kazi, Nikhil Naik (wicketkeeper), Vishant More (wicketkeeper), Satyajeet Bachhav, Taranjeet Singh Dhillon, Shamshuzma Kazi, Pradeep Dadhe, Mukesh Choudhary, Manoj Ingle, Divyang Hingankar, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Jagdish Zope, Swapnil Gugale, Dhanraj Pardeshi, Sunny Pandit. Chattisgarh Ajay Mandal, Amandeep Khare, Anand Rao, Harpreet Singh Bhatia (Captain), Jeevanjot Singh, M. Binny Semual, M. Ravi Kiran, Mo. Shahbaz Hussain (wicket-keeper), Ambienthar, Rishab Tiwari, Sanidhya Hurkat, Shashank Chandrakar, Shashank Singh, Saurabh Kharwar, Subham Singh, Subham Aggarwal, Saurabh Majumdar, Sumit Ruikar, Vishal Singh Kushwaha, and Virpratap Singh. Uttarakhand Iqbal Abdulla (Captain), Ashish Chaudhary, Avneesh Sudha, Himanshu Bisht, Jay Bista, Kunal Chandela, Dhanraj Sharma, Samad Fallah, Gaurav Singh, Girish Rauturi, Karn Kaushal, Akash Madhwal, Mayank Mishra, Dikshanshu Negi, Piyush Joshi, Saurabh Rawat, Arya Sethi, Vijay Sharma, Agrim Tiwari Himachal Pradesh RI Thakur, Kanwar Abhinay, Amit Kumar, Vaibhav Arora, Ankush Bedi, Prashant Chopra, Mayank Dagar, Rishi Dhawan, Arpit Guleria, Pankaj Jaiswal, Ayush Jamwal, Nitin Sharma, Abhimanyu Rana, Ekant Sen, Akash Vasisht Baroda Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Kedar Devdhar, Ninad Rathwa, Smit Patel, Vishnu Solanki, Abhimanyu Rajput, Dhruv Patel, Atit Sheth, Babasafi Pathan, L Meriwala, Mohit Mongia, Bhanu Pania, Kartik Kakade, Chintal Gandhi, Pradeep Yadav, Soyeb Sopariya, Ansh Patel, Parth Kohli, Bhargav Bhatt, Pratik Ghodadra, Pratyush Kumar. Group D Goa Amit Verma (Captain) Amogh Desai, Vishambar Kahlon, Maliksab Shirur, Vaibhav Govekar, Ishaan Gadekar, Heramb Parab, Darshan Misal, Deepraj Gaonkar, Snehal Kauthankar, Shubham Desai, Vijesh Prabhudesai, Ashoke Dinda, Felix Antonio Alemao, Nihal Surlaker, Eknath Dinesh Kerkar, Suyash Prabhudesai, Lakshay Arunkumar Garg, Amulya G Pandrekar and Aditya Kaushik. Madhya Pradesh Parth Sahani (Capt), Rajat Patidar (Vice Capt.), Arpit Gaud Himanshu Mantri, Rishabh Chouhan, Abhishek Bhandari, Venkatesh Iyer, Rakesh Thakur, Saransh Jain, Ankit Sharma, Mihir HIrwani, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Surendra Malviya, Ishwar Pandey, Shantanu Raghuwanshi, Arshad Khan, Puneet Datey, Ashutosh Sharma, Kumar Kartikey Rajasthan Ashok Menaria (captain) Khaleel Ahmed, Akash Singh, Rajesh Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Aniket Choudhary, Rajat Choudhary, Chandrapal Singh, Aditya Garhwal, Arjit Gupta, Salman Khan, Yash Kothari, Ankit Lamba, Mahipal Lomror, Manender Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Tanveer Ul-Haq Saurashtra Jaydev Unadkat (c), Chirag Jani, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Vishwarajsinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Prerak Mankad, Divyarajsinh Chauhan, Vandit Jivrajani, Parth Bhut, Agnivesh Ayachi, Himalay Barad, Kushang Patel, Parth Chauhan, Devang Karamta, Kunal Karamchandani, Avi Barot, Harvik Desai, Arpit Vasavada, Samarth Vyas, Yuvraj Chudasama Services Arun Bamal, Varun Choudhary, Anshul Gupta, Vikas Hathwala, Lakhan Singh, Mohit Kumar, Nakul Sharma, Pulkit Narang, Navneet Singh, Nitin Yadav, Rajat Paliwal, Diwesh Pathania, Rahul Singh, Raushan Raj, Ravi Chauhan, Hardik Sethi, Sumit Singh, Nitin Tanwar, Nakul Verma, Vikas Yadav Vidarbha Ganesh Satish (captain), Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide, Akshay Wadkar, Siddhesh Wath, Rishabh Rathod, Yash Rathod, Apoorv Wankhede, Akshay Karnewar, Akshay Wakhare, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Mohit Raut, Yash Thakur, Aditya Thakare, Mohit Kale, Lalit Yadav, Raj Chaudhari. Coach: Trevor Gonsalves. Group E Andhra Pradesh Ambati Rayudu (Captain), Srikar Bharat (Wicket-Keeper/Vice-Captain), Siraparapu Ashish, Ashwin Hebbar, Ricky Bui, Dhruva Kumar Reddy, Girinath Reddy, CR Gnaneshwa, SK Ismail, Karthik Rama, Kranthi Kumar, Lalith Mohan, Manish Golamaru, Naren Reddy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasanth Kumar, Harishankar Reddy, KV Sasikanth, Shoaib Md Khan, Cheepurapalli Stephen Delhi Shikhar Dhawan (c), Ishant Sharma, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Kshitiz Sharma, Jonty Sidhu, Hiten Dalal, Lalit Yadav, Shivank Vashishth, Manjot Kalra, Siddhant Sharma, Anuj Rawat (wk), Pradeep Sangwan, Simarjeet Singh, Pawan Negi, Ayush Badoni, Vaibhav Kandpal, Lakshay Thareja (wk), Pawan Suyal, Karan Dagar Haryana Ankit Kumar (c), Chaitanya Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ajit Chahal, Pramod Chandila, Arun Chaprana, Ashish Hooda, Kapil Hooda, Tinu Kundu, Aman Kumar, Sanjay Pahal, Harshal Patel, Himanshu Rana, Shubham Rohilla, Nitin Saini, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Parmod Sharma, Shivam Chauhan, Guntashveer Singh, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Yashu Sharma, Sumit Kumar Kerala Sanju Samson (c), Robin Uthappa, Sachin Baby (vc), Sreesanth, Basil Thampi, Jalaj Saxena, Vishnu Vinod, Mohammed Azharuddin, Rahul P, Rohan Kunnumel, Salman Nizar, Nideesh MD, Asif KM, Akshay Chandran, Sijo Mon Joseph, Mithun S, Abhishek Mohan, Vatsal Govind, Anand Joseph, Vinoop Manohar, Mithun PK, Akshay KC, Sreeroop Mumbai Suryakumar Yadav (c), Aditya Tare (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aakarshit Gomel, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Shubham Ranjane, Sujit Nayak, Sairaj Patil, Tushar Deshpande, Dhawal Kulkarni, Minad Manjrekar, Prathamesh Dake, Atharva Ankolekar, Shashank Attarde, Shams Mulani, Hardik Tamore, Akash Parkar, Sufiyan Shaikh Puducherry Damodaren Rohit (Captain), Subramanian Anand, Paras Dogra, Vikneshwaran Marimuthu, Thamaraikannan Parandaman, Sheldon Jackson, S Karthik, A Aravindaraj, Fabid Ahmed, Iqlas Naha, Pankaj Singh, Sagar Trivedi, Sagar Udeshi, Ragupathy Plate Group Arunachal Pradesh Neelam Obi (c), Rahul Dalal, Techi Doria, Karkir Taye, Rakesh Kumar, Nabam Tempol, Akhilesh Sahani, Takam Tallam, Yab Niya, Kamsha Yangfo, Song Tacho, Kengo Goken Bam, Techi Neri, Samarth Seth, Shashwat Kohli Bihar Ashutosh Aman (c), Mohit Kumar, MD Rahmatullah, Shasheem Rathour, Sachin Kumar, Amod Yadav, Babul Kumar, Mangal Mahrour, Samar Quadri, Vikash Ranjan, Yashasvi Rishav, Vikash Yadav, S Gani Chandigarh Manan Vohra (c), Gaurav Gambhir, Arslan Khan, Shivam Bhambri, Bipul Sharma, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Gaurav Puri, Gurinder Singh, Jagjit Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Anirudh Kanwar, Sarul Kanwar, Uday Kaul, Ankit Kaushik, Kunal Mahajan, Jaskaranvir Singh Manipur Ahmed Shah (wk), Langlonyamba Keishangbam, Bishwash Singh, Kshetrimayum Narisingh (wk), Nitesh Sedai, Gemson Singh, Lamabam Singh, Prafullomani Singh, Rex Singh, Sagatpam Jayanta, Thokchom Kishan, Sheiteendra Singh, Karnajit Yumnam Meghalaya Abhay Negi, Aditya Singhania, Chengkham Sangma, Larry Sangma, Akask Kumar Choudhary, Dippu Sangma, Yogesh Tiwari, Rohit Shah, Anish Charak, Wanlambok Nongkhlaw, Kilco Sangma, Shellingstar Thabah, Punit Bisht, Sanjay Yadav, Ravi Teja, Shiva Sangma, Wellmanson Passah, Shaisngi Lyngdoh Mizoram Pratik Desai (c), Taruwar Kohli, G Lalbiakvela, Lalhmangaiha, K Lalhmingmawia, Lalhruaizela, Khawlhring Lalremruata, KB Pawan, Parvez Ahmed, Andrew Vanlalhruaia, K Vanlalruata, Hmar Zothanchhunga, Bobby Zothansanga, Lalnunkima Varte, Lalhruai Ralte, Darremsanga, Lalfakzuala Renthlei, Sumit Lama Nagaland Rongsen Jonathan (c), Hokaito Zhimomi, Stuart Binny, Chetan Bist, Chopise Hopongkyu, Jala uddin, Imliwati Lemtur, Shrikant Mundhe, Nagaho Chishi, Sedezhalie Rupero, Joshua Ozukum, Tahmeed Rahman, Mughavi Wotsa Sikkim Ajay Kumar Pradhan, Anureet Singh, Ashish Thapa, Bhusan Subba, Bibek Diyali, Dinesh Kumar Rai, James Lepcha, Lee Yong Lepcha, (V. Captain), Mandup Bhutia, Md Ronak, Md Saptulla, Nilesh Lamichaney, Nitesh Kumar Gupta, Padam Bdr Limboo, Palzor Tamang, Pritam Nirala, Rajiv Malay Darjee, Robin Bist (Captain), Tashi Bhalla, Varun Sood
S Sreesanth set to return after 7-year ban in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy
Former Indiana Pacer Shantakumeran Sreesanth is likely to return to competitive cricket after the Kerala Cricket Association has included him in the team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy scheduled to be played early next year. A 15-player squad has been announced which will be captained by Sanju Samson, while Sachin Bay will be vice-captain of the Kerala team in the domestic T20 tournament. Sreesanth completed serving a seven-year ban imposed by the BCCI in 2013 after his alleged involvement in a match-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League. The period of ban ended in September earlier this year, but pandemic delayed his return to the field for Kerala in competitive cricket. Kerala squad Sanju Samson (C), Sachin Baby (VC), Jalaj Saxena, Robin Uthappa, Vishnu Vinod, Salman Nizar, Basil Thampi, S Sreesanth, Nidheesh MD, Asif KM, Akshay Chandran, Midhun PK, Abhishek Mohan SL, Vinoop S Manoharan, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Rohan S Kunnummal, Midhun S, Vathsal Govind Sharma, Rojith KG, Sreeroop MP.