The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic T20 cricket championship in India, organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), featuring teams from the Ranji Trophy. It is named after the former Indian test cricketer Syed Mushtaq Ali.
The inaugural season took place in 2006-2007, and it was won by Tamil Nadu under the captaincy of Dinesh Karthik. In this tournament, Rohit Sharma made history by scoring the first-ever T20 century by an Indian cricketer, achieving this milestone while playing for Mumbai against Gujarat.
Mumbai is the current champion, and Tamil Nadu holds the record for the most victories in the tournament, having won it thrice.
The BCCI launched this premier domestic T20 tournament in the 2006-07 season, initially known as the Inter-State T20 Championship, where 27 Ranji teams were divided into five Zones. Later, it was renamed and relaunched as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The competition format underwent several changes over the years. In the 2012-13 season, the knockout stage was replaced with a Super League, where Zonal winners and runners-up were split into two groups, with the group winners facing off in the final. In the 2015-16 season, teams were drawn into four groups, departing from the previous Zonal basis. The 2016-17 season saw Combined Zonal teams participating in the super league instead of Zonal winners.
In June 2016, the BCCI announced plans to scrap the championship and replace it with a zonal-based competition; however, this decision was reversed in the following season, and all domestic teams were included once again.
With the inclusion of nine new teams in the 2018-19 season, the zonal system was abolished. Teams were divided into five groups, and group winners and runners-up advanced to the Super League. The ten teams in the Super League were divided into two groups, and the group winners contested the Final.
The 2021 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy began on October 20, 2021, with the final scheduled for November 12, 2021.