On the eve of his 32nd birthday, Sanju Samson was named captain of Keralam for the 2026-27 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Keralam will begin their campaign against Madhya Pradesh at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh on November 14.
Vishnu Vinod, the red-ball captain, is also part of the 18-member squad, as is spin-bowling allrounder Jalaj Saxena.
Breakout stars from the Kerala Cricket League have been rewarded too. Ahammed Imran, the top-order batter, and Govind Dev, the batting allrounder, have also made the cut. Others selected are right-arm seamer KM Asif and left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Puthur.
Keralam are in Group C, alongside MP, Andhra, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Tripura. Last season, they finished fourth in Group A under Samson's captaincy, and failed to make it into the knockouts.
Samson will enter the competition on the back of recent scores of 67, 14, 18, 4, 4 in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand but has enjoyed a stellar calendar year that included a Player-of-the-Tournament performance in India's victorious T20 World Cup campaign.
Keralam squad for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2026-27
Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Rohan Kunnummal, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), Ahammed Imran, Govind Dev, Krishna Devan, Vishnu Vinod (wk), Salman Nizar, Akhil Scaria, Nikhil M, Vignesh Puthur, Biju Narayanan, Karthik B Nair, Vaisakh Chandran, KM Asif, Nidheesh MD, Sharafuddeen NM, Jalaj Saxena