Tamil Nadu begin their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign against Railways on 14 November with R Sai Kishore as captain and Varun Chakravarthy back in the ranks.
Seven league games in 13 days. That is the job in front of Sai Kishore’s side, which opens on Saturday and plays every other day until 26 November.
When does the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy start and how is it played?
The national T20 championship starts on 14 November 2026 with 38 teams. Thirty-two of them are in the Elite section, split into four groups of eight, and each Elite side plays seven league matches. The remaining six teams make up a single Plate group and meet each other once in a five-match league.
The league stage ends on 26 November. A Super League follows from 30 November to 4 December, and the final is set for 6 December.
Who is leading Tamil Nadu this season?
R Sai Kishore. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, தமிழ்நாடு கிரிக்கெட் சங்கம் (Tamil Nadu Cricket Association), named the left-arm spinner captain at the end of October in place of Varun Chakravarthy, who led the side last season and stays in the 16-man squad as a bowler. VP Amith Sathvik is also in the squad, marked “VP” in the association’s list.
Who is in the Tamil Nadu squad?
The 16 are Sai Kishore (captain), Tushar Raheja, Amith Sathvik, N Jagadeesan, B Sachin, C Andre Siddarth, S Rithik Easwaran, M Shahrukh Khan, Sunny Sandhu, R Rajkumar, T Natarajan, Gurjapneet Singh, G Kishoor, M Siddharth, Varun Chakravarthy and V Athisayaraj Davidson. Four reserves were named: U Mukhilesh, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, S Mohan Prasath and R Silambarasan.
Sachin, a batter, earns a call-up to the T20 side, while the pace group leans on Natarajan and Gurjapneet with Sandhu and Rajkumar as the all-rounders. Four of the batters can keep wicket: Amith Sathvik, Jagadeesan, Rithik Easwaran and Raheja.
Whom does Tamil Nadu play, and when?
- 14 NovemberRailways v Tamil Nadu
- 16 NovemberJammu and Kashmir v Tamil Nadu
- 18 NovemberTamil Nadu v Haryana
- 20 NovemberPunjab v Tamil Nadu
- 22 NovemberTamil Nadu v Bihar
- 24 NovemberDelhi v Tamil Nadu
- 26 NovemberSaurashtra v Tamil Nadu
Only two of the seven are listed with Tamil Nadu as the home side, against Haryana on 18 November and Bihar on 22 November. The last group game, against Saurashtra on 26 November, falls on the final day of the league stage, so qualification for the Super League may well be settled that afternoon.
How does the Super League stage work for Tamil Nadu?
Only the league results decide who goes through to the Super League, which is played between 30 November and 4 December, with the title match two days later on 6 December. A slow start costs more in a seven-match group than in a long first-class season, because there is little room to recover.
For Context
Last season Tamil Nadu played the tournament in Group D, with their matches in Ahmedabad, and lost their opening game to Rajasthan by six wickets. The association added B Sai Sudharsan to that squad on the same day. Varun Chakravarthy was the captain then; this year he plays under Sai Kishore. In the Ranji Trophy, the side’s last outing was an innings-and-259-run win over Chandigarh that ended on 5 November.
Checked against official sources on 11 November 2026.
