Easily the biggest T20 tournament in India in the domestic circuit, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy has turned out to be a stepping stone to success for may an Indian cricketer in the white ball segments of the game. The tournament began as an inter-state T20 tournament in 2006/07 before it got the name of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and has seen many rising talents come out of it season after season.
We’ve been big fans of the SMA Trophy over time and we even listed down every winner of the tournament from start till date. On this page, our focus will be on the batsmen, particularly those who have ended with the top honours in terms of runs every season. From the first season till present, we’re tracking all of those batsmen who ended with the title of ‘leading run scorer’ after every annual SMAT competition.
We also have a list of the top run scorers in the history of the tournament but here in this article, our focus will be on the leading run scorer at the end of every Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season, last updated 4th November 2023, in the middle of the 2023/24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Keep reading for our complete list of SMAT top scorers, season on season and year on year.
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The first ever season of this tournament saw Punjab’s Karan Goel topping the run scoring charts with a little over 300 runs to his name in 10 games. It wasn’t an outstanding season as such as his average was below 40 but he did end as the top run scorer of the tournament, which was enough to feature him on this list. Following that, many Team India and IPL names also ended as the top scorers of SMAT seasons.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – season on season most runs list
| Season | Top batsman | Team | Runs (Matches) | Average |
| 2006/07 | Karan Goel | Punjab | 313 (10) | 39.12 |
| 2009/10 | Parvez Aziz | Assam | 287 (6) | 47.83 |
| 2010/11 | Manoj Tiwary | Bengal | 251 (8) | 41.83 |
| 2011/12 | Mandeep Singh | Punjab | 268 (9) | 67.00 |
| 2012/13 | Unmukt Chand | Delhi | 321 (9) | 35.66 |
| 2013/14 | Avi Barot | Haryana | 369 (9) | 46.12 |
| 2014/15 | Tirumalasetti Suman | Hyderabad | 361 (9) | 40.11 |
| 2015/16 | Hardik Pandya | Baroda | 377 (10) | 53.85 |
| 2016/17 | Harpreet Singh Bhatia | Central Zone | 211 (4) | 52.75 |
| 2017/18 | Kedar Devdhar | Baroda | 411 (8) | 58.71 |
| 2018/19 | Rohan Kadam | Karnataka | 536 (12) | 53.60 |
| 2019/20 | Devdutt Padikkal | Karnataka | 580 (12) | 64.44 |
| 2020/21 | Narayan Jagadeesan | Tamil Nadu | 364 (8) | 72.8 |
| 2021/22 | Tanmay Agarwal | Hyderabad | 334 (7) | 55.66 |
| 2022/23 | Yash Dhull | Delhi | 363 (8) | 72.60 |
| 2023/24 | Riyan Parag | Assam | 502 (9) | 100.4 |
| 2024/25 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Over the years, the number of games per season increased as a couple of new teams joined the fray. The first player to breach the 400-run mark in a single season turned out to be Baroda’s Kedar Devdhar who amassed 411 runs in a single season in 2017/18 but it was only the next year that Rohan Kadam from Karnataka became the first to cross the 500-run barrier in a single tournament, scoring 536 runs.
Another year on and it was another young batter from Karnataka in Devdutt Padikkal who went on to tally the highest number of runs in a single SMAT season for any batsman – 580 runs in 2019/20 SMAT. He went on to represent India and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, so that’s another indicator of how important this tournament is in the Indian domestic setup.
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In terms of averages, a few layers have ended seasons with a batting average of 50+ and a couple even ended with averages of 60+. However, only two players have finished a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy single season with a batting average of 70+, with N Jagadeesan (72.8) doing so in SMAT 2020/21 and then former India U-19 captain Yash Dhull (72.6) doing so in SMAT 2022/23 as well.
In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023/24 season, Riyan Parag also crossed the 500-run barrier and also created a new record of 7 consecutive T20 fifties, ending that run in his 9th game of the season where he was dismissed for 12 runs against Kerala. He also racked up a never-seen-before batting average of 100+, higher than anyone before on this SMAT season-on-season top run scorers list.
Till date, no batter has gone on to top the run scoring charts in two different SMAT seasons, but we will update that here the day it does happen. For more updates from the world of cricket and in particular the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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