Sanju Samson will captain Kerala and Suryakumar Yadav will lead Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which starts on 14 November. Shardul Thakur is back from a finger injury in Mumbai’s 16-man squad, while Kerala have named 18 players including Jalaj Saxena.
Two of India’s best-known T20 names will lead their states when the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy begins on 14 November. Kerala have turned to Sanju Samson, and Mumbai have given the white-ball captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav, with both squads now confirmed ahead of opening matches on the same day.
Samson leads Kerala, with three keepers in the squad
The Kerala Cricket Association has handed the captaincy to Samson, the India wicketkeeper-batter who hit 67 off 33 balls in India’s record chase against New Zealand in Christchurch last month. He is one of three wicketkeepers named, along with Mohammed Azharuddeen and Vishnu Vinod, who is also Kerala’s red-ball captain.
The 18 are Sanju Samson (captain), Rohan Kunnummal, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Ahammed Imran, Govind Dev, Krishna Devan, Vishnu Vinod, Salman Nizar, Akhil Scaria, Nikhil M, Vignesh Puthur, Biju Narayanan, Karthik B Nair, Vaisakh Chandran, KM Asif, Nidheesh MD, Sharafuddeen NM and Jalaj Saxena. No vice-captain has been named in the reports of the squad.
Kerala are in Group C with Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra, Tripura, Puducherry, Assam and Himachal Pradesh, and open against Madhya Pradesh at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh. They arrive after an innings defeat to Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy, a match in which Urvil Patel’s unbeaten 210 had already put the hosts in control by the end of the second day. Gujarat won by an innings and 58 runs.
Suryakumar in charge, Shardul back
The Mumbai Cricket Association named its 16-man squad on Monday, with Suryakumar as captain. He led India to the T20 World Cup title in 2026 but lost his place in the national side after a dip in form, and this is his first top-level competitive cricket since IPL 2026. He was not part of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad, and Siddhesh Lad, the regular Ranji captain, is not in the T20 group.
Shardul Thakur returns after recovering from a finger injury. Shivam Dube, a regular in India’s T20I side, is in the squad along with Sarfaraz Khan and his brother Musheer Khan. “Our aim is to go all the way and bring the trophy home,” Suryakumar said.
The Mumbai squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wicketkeeper), Divyansh Saxena, Suved Parkar, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Sairaj Patil, Shivam Dube, Atharva Ankolekar, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Shams Mulani, Maxwell Swaminathan, Mohit Avasthi, Sylvester D’Souza and Hardik Tamore (wicketkeeper).
Two groups, one start date
Mumbai are in Elite Group D with Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Vidarbha, and open against Hyderabad in Kolkata on 14 November. Kerala meet Madhya Pradesh in New Chandigarh the same day, so both captains begin their campaigns on opening day.
