2021–22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

2021–22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (also known as Paytm Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy due to sponsorship reasons) was the fourteenth edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a Twenty20 competition that was played in India.[1] It started on 4 November 2021,[2] with the final taking place on 22 November 2021.[3] The tournament formed part of the 2021–22 Indian domestic cricket season, which was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in July 2021.[4] Tamil Nadu were the defending champions.[5]

The tournament was originally scheduled to be started on 20 October 2021,[4] and postponed to 27 October 2021,[3] but eventually started on 4 November 2021.[6] The teams were initially divided into five groups, with seven teams each in Groups A and B, and eight each in Groups C, D and E.[4] However, in August 2021, the BCCI announced that the tournament would be divided into six groups, with six teams in the five Elite Groups, and eight teams in the Plate Group.[7] The winners of each Elite Group progressed directly to the quarter-finals, with the second-placed teams and the winner of the Plate Group playing in pre-quarters matches to determine the final eight teams.[8] It was played in six cities across the country which are Baroda, Delhi, Guwahati, Haryana, Lucknow, Vijayawada,[9] with all the knockout matches played in Delhi.[10]

On 8 November 2021, in the Plate Group match between Vidarbha and Manipur, Akshay Karnewar of Vidarbha became the first bowler to bowl four overs in a Twenty20 cricket match without conceding a run.[11]

Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bengal, Hyderabad and Rajasthan all won their Elite Groups, advancing to the quarter-finals, with Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Saurashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Vidarbha progressing to the preliminary quarter-finals.[12][13][14][15][16][17] Vidarbha, Karnataka and Kerala all won their preliminary quarter-final matches to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.[18][19][20] In the quarter-finals, Tamil Nadu, Vidarbha, Hyderabad and Karnataka all won their matches, with Karnataka winning a Super Over against Bengal.[21]

In the first semi-final match, defending champions Tamil Nadu beat Hyderabad by eight wickets, after Hyderabad were bowled out for 90 runs.[22] In the second semi-final, Karnataka scored 176/7 from their twenty overs against Vidarbha, winning by four runs to join Tamil Nadu in the final.[23] In the final, Tamil Nadu beat Karnataka by four wickets to win the tournament and retain their title.[24]