From Hardik to Shami, several Indian stars to be in action during 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 successful team in tournament history with three titles in 2006-07, 2020-21, and 2021-22.

This edition of the tournament will also witness plenty of high-profile Indian stars, who will be aiming to prepare for the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) scheduled for next year. Baroda, the last year finalists, will witness the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal in action. While Indian pace veteran Mohammed Shami will be continuing to build his workload after a triumphant return to cricket during the Ranji Trophy following an ankle injury. He will be playing for Bengal.

Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi are a part of the Gujarat squad while Haryana will feature Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel and Mohit Sharma. Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson, who had a bumper T20I tour of South Africa this month with two centuries each, will lead Hyderabad and Kerala, respectively.

Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand), Asian Games gold medal-winning captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (Maharashtra), Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai), Ajinkya Rahane (Mumbai), Shardul Thakur (Mumbai), Ramandeep Singh (Punjab) and Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) will be among other big Indian stars in action. (ANI)