Big stars, proximity to IPL auction give Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy wider context

The presence of some of the leading stars like Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and its co-existence with the IPL mega auction has given a meaningful context to the latest edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which begins at various venues from Saturday. But the interesting thing is that in the country's major domestic T20 tournament, players are not stitched with the common auction thread. Pandya doesn't have to worry about impressing IPL scouts after finding a place in Mumbai Indians' retention list ahead of the auction to be held on November 23 and 24 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The all-rounder's presence in the Baroda jersey is in line with BCCI's policy of mandating presence of key cricketers in domestic tournaments.

So, his aim will be to stay in touch with the game and possibly help Baroda achieve a rare title win.

But Shami's innings for Bengal is multidimensional. The experienced fast bowler will be keen to put in a good performance to further underline his fitness after taking seven wickets for his state in the recent Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh.

This is a chance for him to continue his path back to top-level cricket, and his efforts here will also have an impact on him flying to Australia, at least for the latter part of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

This is the bigger picture, but the 34-year-old will also be hoping to be picked in the IPL auction after being released by Gujarat Titans.

Given his high pedigree and skills, Shami will definitely find a taker in the auction room, but some power spells in the SMAT will add more gravitas to his profile when his name is read out by the auctioneer.

Similarly, Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai), who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in IPL 2024, and Yuzvendra Chahal (Haryana) will be looking to boost their already impressive IPL CVs with good efforts in the tournament.

After all, in a world of fast auctions, a productive recent outing can further increase the monetary value surrounding a player, regardless of his stature.

A quick recap of Shah Rukh Khan's value rising a few notches after he led Tamil Nadu to the SMA title with a last-ball six against Karnataka a few seasons ago will validate that point.

This year too, a lot of young and relatively unknown names will be hoping to make this tournament a platform to attract big money from the auction.

Bengal wicketkeeper batsman Abhishek Porel, who was part of India A on the recent tour of Australia, can score runs at a furious pace and the 22-year-old will look to be at his best early on.

Then we have Karnataka's Abhinav Manohar, who was let go by the Titans.

Abhinav recently scored 507 runs at an average of 84.5 and strike-rate of 196.5 in the KSCA Maharajas T20, and he will be keen to stake his claim with big innings in the middle-order here.

Rajasthan's young Manav Suthar also falls into the same category, as he has already carved a reputation as an economical left-arm spinner and a useful lower-order batsman.

Along with these established and rising stars, a range of players like Karun Nair (Vidarbha), Krunal Pandya (Baroda) and Deepak Hooda (Rajasthan) who have been pushed back have also made up for their lackluster IPL with some excellent performances. Will dream of reviving career. Tour in the event.