The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy returns on Saturday, November 14, with 38 teams taking part in the 19th edition of India's domestic T20 competition.

The league stage runs until November 26, and the final will be played on December 6.

The 32 Elite teams have been split into four groups of eight, with six more sides in the Plate division. The top two from each Elite group go into the Super League from November 30 to December 4, and the two group winners there meet in the final.

India's senior side is away in New Zealand for the white-ball tour and the Tests that follow, which leaves several players who have dropped out of the national squads available for their states. Jharkhand begin the defence of their title under Anukul Roy.

Sanju Samson and Krunal Pandya are back leading Kerala and Baroda, Suryakumar Yadav takes over as Mumbai captain, and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will lead Bihar in their first two matches. Varun Chakravarthy returns to Tamil Nadu after sitting out the New Zealand T20Is.

The Sporting News looks at five of the biggest names in action at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2026. 

Top stars in action at Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2026

Sanju Samson (Kerala)

Samson is back as Kerala captain and wicketkeeper for an 18-man squad that also carries Mohammed Azharuddeen, Vishnu Vinod and Rohan Kunnummal.

Kerala are in Elite Group C and play all seven of their league matches in New Chandigarh, starting against Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

The schedule then takes them through Maharashtra, Andhra, Tripura, Puducherry, Assam and Himachal Pradesh, finishing on November 26. Jalaj Saxena and left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur are the senior spin options, with KM Asif and MD Nidheesh leading the seam attack.

Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai)

Suryakumar leads Mumbai after being left out of India's T20I team following the World Cup. Mumbai's selectors also kept him out of their Ranji Trophy squad on October 6, saying he needed more red-ball cricket, despite his being available for selection.

He has since played for MIG Cricket Club in the MCA President's Cup and led a side in an intra-squad match at the Brabourne Stadium. Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Sarfaraz Khan and Angkrish Raghuvanshi are in his 16-man squad, which plays its league matches in Kolkata.

Varun Chakravarthy (Tamil Nadu)

Chakravarthy returns to the state side after travelling to New Zealand with India's T20I squad without getting a game.

Tamil Nadu are led by left-arm spinner Sai Kishore, who took a hat-trick against Uttarakhand in the Ranji Trophy last month.

T Natarajan is in the squad too, along with Narayan Jagadeesan, Shahrukh Khan and Tushar Raheja. Gurjapneet Singh, Sunny Sandhu and Athisayaraj Davidson make up the rest of the seam attack, with Manimaran Siddharth a third spin option.

Krunal Pandya (Baroda)

Krunal captains Baroda again, with Jitesh Sharma and Deepak Hooda also in the squad. All three have played for India, and Krunal's left-arm spin and lower-order hitting have kept him in the IPL and domestic T20 circuit for more than a decade.

Rasikh Salam and Raj Limbani lead the seam attack, with Atit Sheth and Mahesh Pithiya as the other bowling options. Shashwat Rawat and Shivalik Sharma fill out the batting, and Amit Pasi is the second wicketkeeper behind Jitesh.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Bihar)

Sooryavanshi takes charge of Bihar for their first two matches, against Saurashtra on Saturday and Railways on November 16, in his first official captaincy at the age of 15.

Suraj Kashyap is the vice-captain, and Mayank Kumar and Ayush Loharuka are in the squad.

The left-hander was Bihar's vice-captain last season, when he became the youngest centurion in the tournament's history. He then scored 776 runs to win the Orange Cap at IPL 2026, and he made his India debut earlier this year.