SMAT 2025: Hardik Pandya set for Big comeback as Domestic stars eye IPL auction boost – Cricket Country

Written by Press Trust of India
Published: Nov 25, 2025, 02:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 25, 2025, 02:49 PM (IST)
Hardik Pandya will be expected to make his much-awaited comeback from injury while the promising domestic talent will be looking for impactful performances ahead of the IPL auction when the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (SMAT) begins across four venues from Wednesday.
Hardik has not played competitive cricket since suffering a quadricep injury during Asia Cup in September.

Ahead of the T20 World Cup at home in February-March, Hardik would only play the shortest format and SMAT will be a platform where he can prove his fitness before the T20 series against South Africa beginning December 9.
The tournament will be played in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Lucknow. The Shardul Thakur-led Mumbai will enter the tournament as defending champions.
Starting from Wednesday, Baroda have seven group games to play till December 8 and head coach Mukund Parmar is expecting the star India all-rounder to play majority of them.
“He has not yet joined the squad but we expect him to play majority of the games. His presence always provides a big boost to the squad,” Parmar told PTI.
Also in action will be captain Suryakumar Yadav who too is expected to play most of Mumbai’s group games.
The India skipper, who has been struggling for runs over the past 12 months, would be looking to carry plenty of runs into the five-match series against South Africa.
Shivam Dube is also expected to feature for Mumbai in the group stage.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has been named captain of the Tamil Nadu squad and should be available for the group stage. The same is the case for Kerala captain Sanju Samson.
Shaw aims for T20 career revival
Prithvi Shaw, once touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, could not even find an IPL team in the auction last year.
He has now moved to Maharashtra from Mumbai in domestic cricket and a productive outing in SMAT before the auction might put him back on the IPL stage.
In Ruturaj Gaikwad’s absence, Shaw will be leading the side in the group stage.
Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal, once an IPL regular, would also be aiming for a bagful of runs to convince IPL teams of his value in the shortest format.
Back home after a stint with Uttar Pradesh, Nitsh Rana will captain Delhi following a forgettable first half of Ranji Trophy.
Assam captain Riyan Parag and MP’s Venkatesh Iyer too would be looking to make the most of the opportunity, the latter being released by KKR due to his hefty price tag of Rs 23.75 crore.

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