What began as an unnamed inter-state T20 tournament in 2006/07 got the name of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy soon later, also becoming an integral part of the Indian domestic cricket calendar. Quite a few names from here went on to become players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and even for the national side, thus telling us why it’s such an important competition on the annual calendar.
A number of teams have ended up becoming SMAT winners over the years and the most recent winner was Mumbai, winning their first title after beating Himachal Pradesh in the final over of the SMAT 2022/23 final. And while the batsmen have always been adored in this tournament, here we’re going to be talking about some of the best bowlers in terms of wickets taken in every SMAT season over the years.
Sometime back, we listed down the top batsmen across every edition of this tournament, year on year. Here on this page, we’re going to let you know which bowlers ended with the most wickets at the end of every edition of this competition, last updated on 4th November 2023, from inception in 2006 till the latest season, updated towards the end of 2023/24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
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The first season was the 2006/07 one where Haryana’s Jitender Billa went on to become the leading wicket taker of the inaugural Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking 18 wickets in his 9 games that season, with a best spell of 4/26 under his belt. As the years went by, quite a few of the leading wicket-takers in this SMAT competition after every edition went on to get IPL and even national call-ups.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy top wicket-takers (Year-on-Year)
| Season | Top bowler | Team | Wickets (Matches) | Best spell |
| 2006/07 | Jitender Billa | Haryana | 18 (9) | 4/26 |
| 2009/10 | Ganesh Gaikwad | Maharashtra | 11 (6) | 3/27 |
| 2010/11 | TP Sudhindra | Madhya Pradesh | 14 (7) | 4/20 |
| 2011/12 | Murtuja Vahora | Baroda | 13 (8) | 3/27 |
| 2012/13 | Mehul Patel | Gujarat | 20 (8) | 5/8 |
| 2013/14 | Lukman Meriwala | Baroda | 21 (9) | 5/23 |
| 2014/15 | Rohit Dahiya | Gujarat | 17 (9) | 4/15 |
| 2015/16 | Irfan Pathan | Baroda | 17 (10) | 5/13 |
| 2016/17 | Karn Sharma | Central Zone | 6 (4) | 3/17 |
| 2017/18 | Deepak Chahar | Rajasthan | 19 (9) | 5/15 |
| 2018/19 | Satyajeet Bachhav | Maharashtra | 20 (12) | 4/18 |
| 2019/20 | Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore | Tamil Nadu | 20 (12) | 4/6 |
| 2020/21 | Ashutosh Aman | Bihar | 16 (6) | 4/9 |
| 2021/22 | Chama Milind | Hyderabad | 18 (7) | 5/8 |
| 2022/23 | Siddarth Kaul | Punjab | 19 (10) | 5/12 |
| 2023/24 | Telukupalli Ravi Teja | Hyderabad | 19(7) | 6/13 |
While Billa’s record of 18 wickets in that first edition stood for quite a while, it was Mehul Patel who went on to become the first bowler in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to get 20 wickets in a single edition, doing so for Gujarat in the SMAT 2012/13 season. After him, as many as three bowlers crossed the 20-wicket barrier in a single edition – Lukman Meriwala (2013), Satyajeet Bachhav (2018), and R Sai Kishore (2019).
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Meriwala’s haul of 21 scalps in only 9 games for Baroda in SMAT 2013/14 is one of the finest seasons by a bowler in this tournament, making it the most number of wickets in a single season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. SMAT 2016 season was the only season played inter-zone rather than inter-state, with Karn Sharma bagging 6 wickets along with 3 others, but having the best average from among them.
Hyderabad’s Chama Milind also had a great season in SMAT 2021 where he picked 18 wickets in only 7 games and that included two separate 5-wicket hauls. For those of you who have played T20 cricket, you’d know how difficult it is to get 5 wickets in a single spell. No bowler in this tournament has finished on top of the top bowlers list on two separate occasions, AS YET!
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