# 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

The 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was the thirteenth edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, an annual Twenty20 tournament in India. Played from 10 to 31 January 2021, it was contested by all 38 Ranji Trophy teams and won by Tamil Nadu, their second title.
On 17 December 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the fixtures, with the 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 with the next two teams in Groups A to E with the most points.
Punjab and Baroda won Groups A and C respectively to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament. Tamil Nadu won Group B to also progress to the knockout stage. The Plate Group was won by Bihar, making them the only team from that group to progress. On the final day of the group stage matches, Rajasthan won Group D, and Haryana won Group E to advance. Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh 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.
| Player | From | To |
| Iqbal Abdulla | Sikkim | Uttarakhand |
| Robin Bist | Rajasthan | Sikkim |
| Jay Bista | Mumbai | Uttarakhand |
| Ashoke Dinda | Bengal | Goa |
| Samad Fallah | Maharashtra | Uttarakhand |
| Sheldon Jackson | Saurashtra | Pondicherry |
| Arun Karthik | Pondicherry | Tamil Nadu |
| Lalith Mohan | Hyderabad | Andhra |
| Ambati Rayudu | Hyderabad | Andhra |
| Anureet Singh | Baroda | Sikkim |
| Barinder Sran | Chandigarh | Punjab |
| Sandeep Warrier | Kerala | Tamil Nadu |

## Background

The tournament was originally scheduled to run from 19 November to 7 December 2020. However, in September 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) warned that the domestic cricket season could be severely curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the possibility of no cricket taking place. On 20 September 2020, Nadim Memon of the Mumbai Cricket Association emailed the BCCI to suggest that the tournament could be played Mumbai. 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.

## Knockout stage

| Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| B1 | Tamil Nadu | 141/5 (17.5 overs) | | | | | | |
| C2 | Himachal Pradesh | 135/9 (20 overs) | | | | | | |
| C2 | Himachal Pradesh | 135/9 (20 overs) | B1 | Tamil Nadu | 158/3 (18.4 overs) | | | |
| | | | D1 | Rajasthan | 154/9 (20 overs) | | | |
| D1 | Rajasthan | 164/5 (20 overs) | D1 | Rajasthan | 154/9 (20 overs) | | | |
| P1 | Bihar | 148/4 (20 overs) | | | | | | |
| P1 | Bihar | 148/4 (20 overs) | | | | B1 | Tamil Nadu | 123/3 (18 overs) |
| | | | | | | C1 | Baroda | 120/9 (20 overs) |
| A1 | Punjab | 89/1 (12.4 overs) | | | | | | | C1 | Baroda | 120/9 (20 overs) |
| A2 | Karnataka | 87 (17.2 overs) | | | | | | |
| A2 | Karnataka | 87 (17.2 overs) | A1 | Punjab | 135/8 (20 overs) | | | |
| | | | C1 | Baroda | 160/3 (20 overs) | | | |
| E1 | Haryana | 148/7 (20 overs) | C1 | Baroda | 160/3 (20 overs) | | | |
| C1 | Baroda | 150/2 (20 overs) | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

* 1st Quarter-final 26 January 2021 Scorecard
| Karnataka 87 (17.2 overs) | v | Punjab 89/1 (12.4 overs) |
| Aniruddha Joshi 27 (34) Siddarth Kaul 3/15 (4 overs) | | Prabhsimran Singh 49* (37) Abhimanyu Mithun 1/11 (2 overs) |
* Punjab won by 9 wickets Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Chirra Ravikanthreddy and Jayaraman Madanagopal
* Punjab won the toss and elected to field.
* 2nd Quarter-final 26 January 2021 Scorecard
| Himachal Pradesh 135/9 (20 overs) | v | Tamil Nadu 141/5 (17.5 overs) |
| Rishi Dhawan 35* (26) Sonu Yadav 3/14 (4 overs) | | Baba Aparajith 52* (45) Vaibhav Arora 3/30 (4 overs) |
* Tamil Nadu won by 5 wickets Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Anil Dandekar and Ulhas Gandhe
* Tamil Nadu won the toss and elected to field.
* 3rd Quarter-final 27 January 2021 Scorecard
| Haryana 148/7 (20 overs) | v | Baroda 150/2 (20 overs) |
| Himanshu Rana 49 (40) Kartik Kakade 2/7 (2 overs) | | Vishnu Solanki 71* (46) Yuzvendra Chahal 1/15 (4 overs) |
* Baroda won by 8 wickets Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Jayaraman Madanagopal and Krishnamachari Srinivasan
* Baroda won the toss and elected to field.
* 4th Quarter-final 27 January 2021 Scorecard
| Rajasthan 164/5 (20 overs) | v | Bihar 148/4 (20 overs) |
| Mahipal Lomror 78* (37) Suraj Kashyap 2/28 (4 overs) | | Mangal Mahrour 68* (58) Chandrapal Singh 1/21 (4 overs) |
* Rajasthan won by 16 runs Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Anil Dandekar and Yeshwant Barde
* Rajasthan won the toss and elected to bat.
* Suraj Kashyap (Bihar) made his T20 debut.

### Semi-finals

* 1st Semi-final 29 January 2021 Scorecard
| Rajasthan 154/9 (20 overs) | v | Tamil Nadu 158/3 (18.4 overs) |
| Ashok Menaria 51 (32) M. Mohammed 4/24 (4 overs) | | Arun Karthik 89* (54) Tanveer Ul-Haq 1/22 (3 overs) |
* Tamil Nadu won by 7 wickets Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Ulhas Gandhe and Yeshwant Barde
* Rajasthan won the toss and elected to bat.
* 2nd Semi-final 29 January 2021 Scorecard
| Baroda 160/3 (20 overs) | v | Punjab 135/8 (20 overs) |
| Kedar Devdhar 64 (49) Mayank Markande 1/29 (4 overs) | | Mandeep Singh 42* (24) Lukman Meriwala 3/28 (4 overs) |
* Baroda won by 25 runs Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Chirra Ravikanthreddy and Krishnamachari Srinivasan
* Punjab won the toss and elected to field.

### Final

* Final 31 January 2021 Scorecard
| Baroda 120/9 (20 overs) | v | Tamil Nadu 123/3 (18 overs) |
| Vishnu Solanki 49 (55) Manimaran Siddharth 4/20 (4 overs) | | Chezhian Harinishanth 35 (38) Atit Sheth 1/20 (3 overs) |
* Tamil Nadu won by 7 wickets Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad Umpires: Ulhas Gandhe and Yeshwant Barde Player of the match: Manimaran Siddharth (Tamil Nadu)
* Tamil Nadu won the toss and elected to field.