After several rounds of intense action, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy group stages will conclude on Thursday at the end of 127 league matches where 38 teams were in contention.
10 teams will advance to the knockouts and six teams will directly advance to the quarterfinals. The four second-placed teams in the five groups will compete in the pre-quarterfinals as all the knockout matches will be played between December 9 and 15 in Bengaluru.
With the tournament witnessing unprecedented levels of six hits and 12 centuries, both batsmen and bowlers are kept under the pump to increase their performance in each round. Here’s a look at the top performers so far:
SMAT 2024: The best batsmen in the tournament so far
| the player | Ins | Run | H.S | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 | 4 seconds | 6 seconds |
| Tilak Verma (HYD) | 6 | 327 | 151 | 65.4 | 169.43 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 17 |
| Shakibul Ghani (Bihar) | 6 | 326 | 120* | 65.2 | 150.92 | 1 | 2 | 38 | 10 |
| Harvik Desai (SAU) | 6 | 305 | 76 | 50.83 | 158.03 | – | 3 | 36 | 13 |
| Karan Lal (Beng) | 6 | 295 | 94* | 59 | 171.51 | – | 2 | 32 | 16 |
| Urvil Patel (GUJ) | 5 | 282 | 115* | 94 | 229.26 | 2 | – | 20 | 25 |
In the recent match, Tilak Verma scored 46 runs and topped the leaderboard with 327 runs in 6 innings at a strike rate of 169.43. Bihar’s Shakibul Ghani, who scored 79 runs in the most recent match on December 3, is now second in the rankings. The Bihar captain also recorded his highest T20 score of 120 not out in the tournament. Saurashtra wicketkeeper Harvik Desai is the third batsman to cross the 300-run mark with 158 runs at an average above 50.
Bengal’s Karan Lal, who failed to score a half-century in the recent match, is fourth and Gujarat’s record-breaker Urvil Patel is fifth after two spellbinding centuries.
SMAT 2024: The best bowlers in the tournament so far
| the player | Wkts | Ins | forces | overs | Young women | Run | Ave | econ |
| Shreyas Gopal (Karnataka) | 14 | 6 | 144 | 24 | – | 125 | 8.92 | 5.2 |
| Mukesh Chaudhary (MAHA) | 13 | 5 | 108 | 18 | 1 | 146 | 11.23 | 8.11 |
| K Karthikeya (MP) | 13 | 6 | 144 | 24 | – | 185 | 14.23 | 7.7 |
| Abid Mushtaq (J&K) | 12 | 6 | 103 | 17.1 | – | 144 | 12 | 8.38 |
| Jagjit Singh (CHD) | 12 | 5 | 114 | 19 | 1 | 147 | 12.25 | 7.73 |
In his most recent match, Karnataka’s Shreyas Gopal took a hat-trick and finished with 4/19, which included the crucial scalps of Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya. He has become the best bowler of the tournament by taking 14 wickets in 6 matches. Second on the list is left-armer Mukesh Chaudhary of Maharashtra, who has taken 13 wickets in five matches, while spinner Kumar Karthikeya of Madhya Pradesh has taken 13 wickets in six matches.