Sanju Samson back in Kerala colours, named Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy captain

Sanju Samson will return to domestic cricket as Kerala captain, having been entrusted with the leadership role for the 2026 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The wicketkeeper-batter will lead an 18-member squad in the tournament, which begins on November 24.

It will be Samson's first appearance for Kerala since January, when he featured in a Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture against Puducherry. The India opener has since been occupied with national duties, playing an important role in India's successful T20 World Cup title defence and their gold medal-winning campaign at the Asian Games.

Samson was part of the Indian team that beat New Zealand



in the T20I series 3-2 recently.

Kerala will begin their SMAT campaign against Madhya Pradesh at the PCA Stadium in Tira, near Mohali. Both teams are part of Group C, which also features Andhra, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Tripura.

Samson had led Kerala in the previous edition as well, but the team could only manage a fourth-place finish in Elite Group A and failed to progress to the next stage. The wicketkeeper-batter enjoyed a productive campaign individually, accumulating 233 runs from six innings at a strike rate of 137.86. He was Kerala's second-highest run-getter, behind Rohan Kunnummal.