2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was the thirteenth edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

competition that was played in India. It started on 10 January 2021, with the final taking place on 31 January 2021.

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

were the defending champions. On 17 December 2020, the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

(BCCI) confirmed the fixtures, with 38 teams split into six groups. Groups A to E had six teams, while the Plate Group had eight teams. The winners from each group progressed to the quarter-finals, along the next two teams in Groups A to E with the most points.

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

won Groups A and C respectively to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament.

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

won Group B to also progress to the knockout stage. The Plate Group was won by

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, making them the only team from that group to progress. On the final day of the group stage matches,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

won Group D, and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

won Group E to advance.

and

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

took the remaining two places in the quarter-finals, finishing the group stage as the best two second placed teams. The first two quarter-finals saw Punjab beat Karnataka by nine wickets, and Tamil Nadu beat Himachal Pradesh by five wickets. In the third quarter-final, Baroda beat Haryana by eight wickets. In the last quarter-final match, Rajasthan became the fourth team to progress to the semi-finals, with a 16-run win over Bihar. In the first semi-final, Tamil Nadu beat Rajasthan by seven wickets to advance to their second successive final in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. They were joined in the final by Baroda, after they beat Punjab by 25 runs in the second semi-final. In the final, Tamil Nadu beat Baroda by seven wickets to win the tournament.

Player transfers

The following player transfers were approved ahead of the season.

Background

The tournament was originally scheduled to run from 19 November to 7 December 2020. However, in September 2020, the

(BCCI) warned that the domestic cricket season could be severely curtailed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, including the possibility of no cricket taking place. On 20 September 2020, Nadim Memon of the

Mumbai Cricket Association The Mumbai Cricket Association (formerly Bombay Cricket Association) is the governing body for cricket in Mumbai and surrounding regions such as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Its headquarter is situated at Cricket centre in Churchgate, Mumbai. It go ...

emailed the BCCI to suggest that the tournament could be played

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The city has six cricket stadiums, complete with all the relevant facilities and hotels nearby. On 13 December 2020, the BCCI confirmed the fixtures and venues for the tournament, with each group playing their matches in bio-secure bubbles.

League stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Plate Group

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
2020 in Indian cricket Domestic cricket competitions in 2020–21 {{DEFAULTSORT:Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy