From Hardik Pandya To Mohammed Shami: Indian Stars To Feature In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024

Top Indian international stars and promising young talents will be in action during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the country's top domestic T20 tournament, starting Saturday. The tournament was started in 2007 and now fans will be able to witness its 17th edition with 38 teams in action. Defending champions Punjab, who will be led by skipper Abhishek Sharma, secured their maiden title last year by beating Baroda in the final. Abhishek had won the 'Player of the Series' last season, with 485 runs in 10 matches, with two centuries and three fifties.

The 38 teams have been divided into five groups, with groups A to C featuring eight teams and D to E having seven teams each, as per Olympics.com. The defending champions are a part of Group A alongside Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Bihar, as per Olympics.com.

-Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 groups and teams

Group A: Bengal, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Bihar

Group B: Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Karnataka, Tripura, Baroda, Sikkim, Uttarakhand

Group C: Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh

Group D: Assam, Railways, Odisha, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Pondicherry, Chandigarh

Group E: Mumbai, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Services, Nagaland

Each team will be playing the other teams in their groups in a round-robin format, with top two teams from each group making it to knockouts. The five table toppers, along with the best second-placed team from across groups based on points or Net Run Rate, will qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The remaining four teams will have to play pre-quarterfinals.

Tamil Nadu is the most