The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on December 7 that due to logistical reasons caused by an international conference taking place in Indore, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockout matches will now be staged at Pune instead of Indore. This decision came due to a shortage of hotel rooms available there due to limited capacity in Indore for accommodation purposes.
Original plans had it that SMAT knockout matches would take place from December 12-18 in Indore; now however, they will take place simultaneously at both Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium Gahunje and Dr DY Patil Academy Ground Ambi in Pune.
Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association Alerted BCCI Early Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) had informed BCCI nearly two weeks prior that hosting of knockout matches in Indore would not be feasible due to an international physicians conference from December 9-12 taking over most hotels, leaving no rooms available for players, officials and staff attending these knockout matches in Indore. MPCA CEO Rohit Pandit explained this was because there would not be enough rooms left available during that event for tournament players, officials or staff attending these knockouts to participate.
“We informed BCCI earlier in the month that due to hotel room limitations due to an international conference taking place here, the SMAT knockouts will no longer take place here,” Pandit explained in The Times of India.
BCCI Moves Knockout Matches to Pune
According to an official from BCCI, knockout matches have been moved from Kolkata to Pune at MPCA’s request, though moving them there could create further logistical hurdles; domestic flight disruptions make transporting 8 participating teams, umpires and officials problematic.
Complicating matters further are multiple domestic tournaments being staged concurrently – the Women’s Under-23 T20 Trophy in Ahmedabad and Men’s Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy both require constant travel between venues for players and officials alike.
“Depending on travel arrangements, transporting all eight teams, umpires and officials to Pune for SMAT knockouts may prove challenging,” reported an insider with knowledge of developments.
Expected Players
Many top Indian cricketers are expected to feature prominently in the knockout stage, such as Rohit Sharma from Mumbai who may play after retiring from T20 internationals over a year ago but has expressed his wish to represent his state team during this tournament.
Mumbai Indians have enjoyed strong results so far in Elite Group A matches, winning four out of five to nearly ensure qualification for knockout play-offs. Mumbai captain Shardul Thakur will join Rohit Sharma at Mumbai for IPL 2026.
Flight Disruptions Add to Concerns Compounding these difficulties is IndiGo’s ongoing flight crisis, which has already resulted in over 1,000 domestic flight cancellations resulting in team and official travel being disrupted – creating additional logistical headaches for BCCI as it oversees knockout tournaments held in Pune.
