Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20: An audition for the IPL, and next year's World Cup
Here's all you need to know about India's domestic T20 competition, which begins on November 8
The tournament kicks off on November 8 and the Super League knockout phase will begin on November 21. The final will be played on December 1, 18 days before the IPL auction in Kolkata.
Across six cities: Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Surat, Mumbai and Chandigarh.
There are five groups. Teams in each group will play each other in their group in a round-robin format. Following this, the top-two sides from each group will progress to the Super League phase for the knockouts.
A day before the 2017 IPL auction, Jharkhand batsman Ishank Jaggi cracked a 30-ball 56 and consequently elbowed his way into the auction, getting a gig with Kolkata Knight Riders. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were also plucked out of this tournament by scouts and went on to become not only IPL heroes but also international stars.
With the T20 World Cup in Australia just about a year from now, India are keen to expand their talent pool and make their bench "as strong as possible". Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav, captains of Punjab and Mumbai respectively, will aim to make their cases for T20I selection, having done well in the 50-over Deodhar Trophy. Yadav, in particular, showed off his finishing skills in the Deodhar with his unbeaten 72 off 29 balls - a knock filled with a variety of unorthodox strokes.
All India regulars will miss the start of this domestic tournament and will instead be in action against Bangladesh in the ongoing T20I series. Fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who made his T20I debut in the Caribbean earlier this year, is recovering from injury and isn't part of Delhi's squad.
Former Under-19 World Cup winner and Bengal seamer Ishan Porel bagged ten wickets in the Hazare Trophy, including a 6 for 34, at an impressive economy rate of 4.68. Porel was also at it in the Deodhar Trophy that followed, and even pulled off WWE wrestler John Cena's you-can't-see-me celebration. If Porel extends his rich form into the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, we could well see him in the IPL.
The usual suspects: defending champions Karnataka, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu. Karnataka won't have Agarwal and Pandey for a part or even the entire tournament, but they have the promising teenager Devdutt Padikkal and two legspinners - Shreyas Gopal and Praveen Dubey - in the mix. Rohan Kadam, who was the top scorer in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will have to do it all over again in order to earn an IPL deal.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo