Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy 2021 Squads, Prediction, Possible Playing 11, Schedule, Stats, Team Analysis

Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy will kick start India’s domestic season for the year 2021. The tournament will begin on 10^th January and will span for 21 days with the final to be played on 31^st January. The tournament comprises 38 teams. All these teams are divided into 5 Elite groups and one Plate group. The winner and runners-up from each group will qualify for the knockouts to be played in Ahmedabad. Five venues including Alur, Vadodara, Mumbai, Chennai, Indore, and Kolkata will host the group stages and the knockouts will be played at Ahmedabad.

Unlike the previous seasons, several of the top international stars along with big names in domestic cricket will participate in this league. With an IPL auction set to take place immediately after the end of this tournament, all players are expected to be at their absolute best.

The top teams and top performers from each team have been predictable to a great extent for the last couple of years. And hence SMAT is a perfect opportunity for fantasy cricket players to earn a great deal of profit. To help you in this regard, we have put forward the final preview of the top 10 teams of last year, along with some top fantasy picks from those teams.

Karnataka

Last Season Standings: 1st
Best Performance in a season: Winners (2018-19, 2019-20)
Elite Group: A
Group Stage Venue: Alur

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 10/ 2
Leading run-getter: Devdutt Padikkal (580 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Shreyas Gopal (19 Wickets)

Karnataka Squad: Karun Nair (c), Pavan Deshpande (VC), Abhimanyu Mithun, Prasidh Krishna, Prateek Jain, V Koushik, Ronit More, Darshan MB, Manoj Bhandage, Devdutt Padikkal, Rohan Kadam, KV Siddharth, KL Shrijith, BR Sharath, Anirudha Joshi, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jagadeesha Suchith, Pravin Dubey, Shubhang Hegde

Top Fantasy Picks

Devdutt Padikkal- He was the leading run-scorer in the last season with 580 runs from 12 matches. He averaged 64.44 and had an unbelievable strike rate of 175.56 right throughout the tournament. His exploits included 1 century and 5 half-centuries. This led to his selection in the RCB side for IPL 2020. There too he impressed everyone with 473 runs in 15 matches. He is a must-have in any fantasy team.

Krishnappa Gowtham- Gowtham is a familiar name for all those who follow IPL and Indian domestic cricket. He bowls 4 overs consistently every match and can be a handy finisher as well. This all-round package makes him a valuable pick for fantasy cricket. He has 37 T20 wickets from 56 matches and has a strike rate of 165.76 with the bat. 

Shreyas Gopal- He was the second leading wicket-taker of the last season with 19 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 15. He maintained a stunning economy of 6.79 right throughout the last season.

Rohan Kadam- He was one of the top performers for Karnataka last season. He scored 258 runs from 7 innings at an average of 43.

Abhimanyu Mithun- He is a Karnataka veteran. He has 61 T20 wickets from 64 innings at an economy of just over 8.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Karnataka is the defending champions. In fact, they were the champions in the 2018-19 season also. But the absence of prominent players like Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, and KL Rahul may not help them progress forward like the last two years.

As for fantasy cricket tips, it would be better to go with Padikkal and Shreyas Gopal as captain and VC choices for matches involving Karnataka. Even though the likes of Karun Nair and Prasidh Krishna are big names in the domestic circuit, it would be better not to invest in them heavily as they are right now not in the best of their forms.

Tamil Nadu

Last Season Standings: 2nd
Best Performance in a season: Winners (2006-07)
Elite Group: B
Group Stage Venue: Kolkata

Last season StatsWins/ Losses: 9/ 3
Leading run-getter: Dinesh Karthik (301 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: R Sai Kishore (20 Wickets)

Tamil Nadu Squad: Dinesh Karthik (c), Vijay Shankar (VC), B Aparajith, Sandeep Warrier, J Kousik, R Sonu Yadav, M Ashwin, R Sai Kishore, M Siddharth, L Suryapprakash, R S Jaganath Srinivas, B Indrajith, M Shahrukh Khan, C Hari Nishaanth, KB Arun Karthik, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, N Jagadeesan, Aswin Crist, M Mohammed, G Periyasamy.

Top Fantasy Picks

Dinesh Karthik- He was the leading run-scorer for Tamil Nadu last year (301 runs). He is a T20 veteran and in total, he has 5877 T20 runs from 269 matches.

Vijay Shankar- He is an all-round package. Last year he scored 210 runs from 8 innings at an average of 30. He also picked up 6 wickets last year in SMAT.

R Sai Kishore– He was the leading wicket-taker of the last season. He picked up 20 wickets from 12 matches at an average of 10.40. He also maintained an unbelievable economy of 4.64 right throughout the tournament.

Manimaran Siddharth- He was one of the finds of the last season. From the five matches that he played, he picked up 12 wickets at an average of 7.42, that too at an impressive economy of 4.94.

Baba Aparajith- With 160 runs from 8 innings at an average of 32, he supported Dinesh Karthik and Vijay Shankar commendably well in the last season.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Tamil Nadu has some of the unheard, yet great spinners of the tournament. Both Sai Kishore and Manimaran Siddharth are great options to gamble within the mega contests. With Murali Vijay, Washington Sundar, and T Natarajan missing out, their batting and fast bowling department is weakened a bit. Hence it would be wise to invest heavily in only the above-mentioned players.

Rajasthan

Last Season Standings: Semi-Finalist
Best Performance in a season: Runners Up (2017-18)
Elite Group: D
Group Stage Venue: Indore

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 6/ 5
Leading run-getter: Ankit Lamba (281 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Aniket Choudhary (13 Wickets)

Rajasthan Squad: Ashok Menaria (C), Mahipal Lomror (VC), Manender Singh, Bharat Sharma, Aditya Garhwal, Arjit Gupta, Tanveer Ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Rahul Chahar, Rajat Choudhary, Akash Singh, Ajayraj Singh, Yash Kothari, Rajesh Bishnoi (sr), Ankit Lamba, Aniket Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Salman Khan, CP Singh.

Top Fantasy Picks

Ravi Bishnoi- He was sensational in the recently concluded IPL. He picked up 12 wickets from 14 matches at an economy of 7.37.

Deepak Chahar- He is a seasoned t20 campaigner. The fact that he is available for the entire tournament will do greater good for the Rajasthan team. Overall he has 96 T20 wickets from 88 matches, that too at an economy of 7.46.

Khaleel Ahmed- This left-arm seamer who plays for SHR in the IPL has 73 T20 wickets from 50 matches at an average of 20.63.

Rahul Chahar- This MI leggie took 11 wickets from 7 matches in the last SMAT. Overall he has 48 wickets from 45 innings at an economy of 7.54.

Ankit Lamba- He was their leading run-scorer last year. He scored 281 runs from 11 matches at an average of 28.10.

Aniket Choudhary- He was their leading wicket-taker in the last season. He picked up 13 wickets from 10 matches at an impressive economy of 6.19.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Rajasthan has a very solid bowling lineup. Hence from the fantasy cricket perspective, it would be better to invest more in their bowlers than batsmen for matches involving Rajasthan.

Haryana

Last Season Standings: Semi-Finalist
Best Performance in a season: Semi-Finals (2019-20)
Elite Group: E
Group Stage Venue: Mumbai

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 9/ 3
Leading run-getter: Harshal Patel (374 runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Harshal Patel (19 Wickets)

Haryana Squad: Ankit Kumar(c), Chaitanya Bishnoi, Ajit Chahal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pramod Chandila, Arun Chaprana, Ashish Hooda, Kapil Hooda, Aman Kumar, Tinu Kundu, Sanjay Pahal, Harshal Patel, Himanshu Rana, Shubham Rohilla, Mohit Sharma, Nitin Saini, Rohit Sharma, Shivam Chauhan, Guntashveer Singh, Sumit Kumar, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Yashu Sharma

Top Fantasy Picks

Harshal Patel- He is undoubtedly the first person from Haryana to pick in your fantasy teams. Interestingly he was both their leading run-scorer as well as leading wicket-taker for the last edition. He scored 374 runs from 12 matches at an average of 31.17 and took 19 wickets at an average of 15.95 and economy of 7.05.

Yuzvendra Chahal- Luckily for Haryana, the spin wizard Yuzi Chahal will be available for the entire season. He is a must-have in any fantasy team. Overall in his short career, he has picked up 214 T20 wickets from 188 innings at an economy of 7.57.

Rahul Tewatia- During the last SMAT, he was just Rahul Tewatia. But right now after the IPL 2020, he is a messiah. He proved that he can win matches from any position with both bat and ball. He averaged 42.50 in the IPL and scored 255 runs from 11 innings. He also picked up 10 wickets at an outstanding economy of 7.09. And if all these stats aren’t enough, better be aware that ‘Lord Tewatia’ is beyond just mere numbers.

Chaitanya Bishnoi- He was their second-leading run-scorer last season with 280 runs from 12 matches at an average of 25.45.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Haryana has two of the great domestic all-rounders in Harshal Patel and Rahul Tewatia. Ideally, these two should be the captain and vice-captain choices for the fantasy teams for the matches involving Haryana.

Mumbai

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season: Zonal Winners (2016-17)

Elite Group: E
Group Stage Venue: Mumbai

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 9/ 2
Leading run-getter: Surya Kumar Yadav (392 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Shams Mulani (11 Wickets)

Mumbai Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Aditya Tare (vc), Minad Manjrekar, Prathamesh Dake, Atharva Ankolekar, Shashank Attarde, Shams Mulani, Hardik Tamore, Akash Parkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aakarshit Gomel, Sarfaraz Khan, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Shubham Ranjane, Sujit Nayak, Sairaj Patil, Tushar Deshpande, Dhawal Kulkarni, Arjun Tendulkar.

Top Fantasy Picks

Surya Kumar Yadav- 3354 T20 runs from 141 innings at an average of 31.64. These stats show how good a T20 player he is. Despite all these, he is constantly ignored by the national selection committee. Hence don’t get surprised if, he once again stamps his authority on the SMAT to get the attention of the national selectors. He was brilliant in the recently concluded IPL as well. He scored 480 runs for Mumbai Indians this season at an average of 40 and an impressive strike rate of 145.02.

Yashasvi Jaiswal- Young Jaiswal will be playing for Mumbai in this SMAT. He was the payer of the tournament in the last Under-19 World Cup. He is also the youngest double centurion in List-A cricket. In the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy he scored 564 runs in 6 matches at an average of 112.80.

Shivam Dube- He is a value pick as far as T20 cricket is concerned. He bats in the middle order and bowls 4 overs consistently for Mumbai. He has scored 484 T20 runs from 39 innings and has picked up 24 wickets.

Sarfaraz Khan- He has 640 T20 runs from 41 innings. He also has a career strike rate of 137.63.

Tushar Deshpande- He played just 5 matches last season and picked up 9 wickets at an economy of 7.19.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Surya Kumar Yadav is the ideal captaincy choice for matches involving Mumbai. He is in fine form and has a point to prove. Other than him, Shivam Dube is a good pick to make captain or vice-captain owing to his all-round abilities. For mega contest, Yashaswi Jaiswal would be the perfect option to try your luck.

Maharashtra

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season: Winner (2009-10)
Elite Group: C
Group Stage Venue: Vadodara

Last season Stats
Wins/ Losses: 7/ 4
Leading run-getter: Ruturaj Gaikwad (419 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Satyajeet Bacchav (15 Wickets)

Maharashtra Squad: Rahul Tripathi (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Naushad Shaikh, Kedar Jadhav, Ranjeet Nikam, Azim Kazi, Nikhil Naik (wk), Vishant More (wk), 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.

Top Fantasy Picks

Ruturaj Gaikwad- He was their leading run-scorer for the last season. He scored 419 runs from 11 matches at an average of 41.90. He also possesses an impressive strike rate of 146.50. He also impressed everyone with consecutive fifties for CSK in the recently concluded IPL.

Rahul Tripathi- He has 1731 T20 runs from 80 innings at a strike rate of 129.57.

Kedar Jadhav- The veteran is not at the best of his forms right now. But with CSK most likely to release him before this auction, this SMAT is a do or die tournament for Kedar if he is to continue playing in the IPL. He has 2110 T20 runs from 121 innings.

Satyajeet Bachhav- He was the leading wicket-taker for Maharashtra last season. He picked up 15 wickets from 11 innings at an economy of 6.45.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Tripathi and Gaikwad are the most suitable captain and vice-captain options available from this team. Apart from the above-mentioned name, Nikhil Naik can be value addition. He is an explosive player and he can take the game away from the opposition on his day.

Baroda

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season:  Winners (2011-12, 2013-14)
Elite Group: C
Group Stage Venue: Vadodara

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 7/3
Leading run-getter: Aditya Waghmode (364 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Lukman Meriwala (16 Wickets)

Baroda Squad: Krunal Pandya (c), Deepak Hooda, Chintal Gandhi, Pradeep Yadav, Soyeb Sopariya, Ansh Patel, Parth Kohli, Bhargav Bhatt, Pratik Ghodadra, Pratyush Kumar, Kedar Devdhar, Ninad Rathwa, Smit Patel, Vishnu Solanki, Abhimanyu Rajput, Dhruv Patel, Atit Sheth, Babasafi Pathan, L Meriwala, Mohit Mongia, Bhanu Pania, Kartik Kakade.

Top Fantasy Picks

Krunal Pandya- He is a seasoned T20 campaigner. He has been guarding the MI and Baroda lower-middle order for quite some time now. Overall he has 81 T20 wickets at an economy of 7.40. Moreover, he also has 1438 runs from 87 innings, that too at a strike rate of 138.54.

Lukman Meriwala- He was their leading wicket-taker last season. He picked up 16 wickets from just 7 matches at an outstanding average of 10.69 and an impressive economy of 6.33.

Deepak Hooda- He has 1649 T20 runs from 95 innings. He can be quite handy with the ball as well.

Kedar Devdhar- He was their second-leading run-scorer last season with 256 runs from 10 matches at an average of 39.56.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Baroda is a completely revamped side right now. They do not have the services of their top international stars and many of their top players have retired. They also decided to move away from veteran Yusuf Pathan. Hence from a fantasy cricket perspective, it would be better to invest heavily in Krunal and the youngsters for the matches involving Baroda.

Punjab

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season: Runners Up (2006-07, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15)
Elite Group: A
Group Stage Venue: Alur

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 5/6
Leading run-getter: Anmolpreet Singh (276 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Harpreet Brar (14 Wickets)

Punjab Squad: Mandeep Singh (c), Gurkeerat Singh Mann (VC), Rohan Marwaha, Abhinav Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Barinder Singh Sran, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Singh Brar, Anmolpreet Singh, Anmol Malhotra, Sanvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Karan Kaila, Mayank Markande, Baltej Singh Dhanda, Krishan, Gitansh Khera

Top Fantasy Picks

Mandeep Singh- He scored 270 runs from 9 innings last season at an average of 38.57 and strike rate of 145.95. 

Abhishek Sharma- He is a complete all-round package. He scored 214 runs from 9 innings at a strike rate of 145. He also picked up 4 wickets from just the three matches that he bowled.

Sandeep Sharma- He is a T20 veteran. He has 152 T20 wickets from 131 innings. He averages 23.62 with the ball and has a career economy of just 7.45.

Anmolpreet Singh- He was the leading run-scorer for Punjab last year with 276 runs from 10 innings at an average of 30.67.

Arshdeep Singh- He was one of the finds for KXIP during this IPL. He picked up 12 wickets from 11 matches for KXIP in IPL 2020. Moreover, he reached these figures by bowling the toughest death overs.

Mayank Markande- He picked up 12 wickets from 9 matches in SMAT 2019-20 at an economy of just 6.83.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

All the above mentioned names are value picks for fantasy games involving Punjab. Out of those Abhishek Sharma is the most suitable captaincy choice owing to his all-round abilities. Apart from these names, Gurkeerat Mann is also a good choice to try out in fantasy teams.

Delhi

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season: Winners (2017-18)
Elite Group: E
Group Stage Venue: Mumbai

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 6/4
Leading run-getter: Hiten Dalal (231 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Simarjeet Singh (11 wickets)

Delhi Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Ishant Sharma, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Kshitiz Sharma, Jonty Sidhu, Hiten Dalal, Lakshay Thareja (wk), Pawan Suyal, Lalit Yadav, Shivank Vashishth, Manjot Kalra, Siddhant Sharma, Anuj Rawat (wk), Pradeep Sangwan, Simarjeet Singh, Pawan Negi, Ayush Badoni, Vaibhav Kandpal, Karan Dagar

Top Fantasy Picks

Shikhar Dhawan- He needs no introduction. The fact that he is playing is a huge bonus for the Delhi team. He was in splendid form in the recently concluded IPL. He was the second leading run-scorer with 616 runs from 17 matches at an average of 44.14. To add to that he maintained an outstanding strike rate of 144.73 right throughout the tournament. He also scored two massive hundreds in the IPL 2020.

Ishant Sharma- He is an experienced pacer. He has 106 T20 wickets from 134 appearances and has a career economy of 7.40.

Nitish Rana- He was one of the star performers of the last season. He scored 226 runs from 9 innings at an impressive strike rate of 144.87. To add to that he picked up 11 wickets that too at a stunning economy of 5.90.

Simarjeet Singh- He was the leading wicket-taker for Delhi last year with 11 wickets. He played 10 matches and had an economy of 7.24

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Nitish Rana was impressive with both bat and ball in the last season. Hence he is the most suitable captaincy choice from Delhi.

Jharkhand

Last Season Standings: Super League
Best Performance in a season: Super League/ Knockouts
Elite Group: B
Group Stage Venue: Kolkata

Last season Stats

Wins/ Losses: 5/5
Leading run-getter: Virat Singh (343 Runs)
Highest wicket-taker: Varun Aaron (10 wickets)

Jharkhand Squad: Ishan Kishan (c), Pankaj Kumar, Kumar Deobrat, Saurav Tiwari, Uttakarsh Singh, Anand Singh, Virat Singh (vc), Rahul Shukla, Monu Kumar Singh, Vivekanand Tiwari, Bala Krishna, Aashish Kumar, Satya Setu, Vikash Vishal, Anukul Roy, Shahbaaz Nadeem, Sonu Kumar Singh, Varun Aaron.

Top Fantasy Picks

Ishan Kishan- He was the leading run-scorer for the champions Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020. He scored 516 runs from 14 matches at an average of 57.33 and at an outstanding strike ate of 145.76.

Virat Singh- He was the leading run-scorer for Jharkhand in the last SMAT. He scored 343 runs at an average of 57.17 from 10 matches. He also boasted of a strike rate of 142.32.

Uttakarsh Singh- He is a complete all-round package. In the last SMAT, he scored 150 runs from 7 innings at an average of 30. And he also picked up 9 wickets at an economy of 7.19.

Varun Aaron- He was Jharkhand’s leading wicket-taker in SMAT 20219-20. He picked up 10 wickets from 8 matches.

Team Analysis for fantasy cricket

Ishan Kishan is in the form of his life. With the wicket-keeper’s slot still open for grabs in the Indian T20I setup, expect Kishan to bring his best game forward.

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