The fifth round of the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) saw numerous clubs move dramatically up and down the standings in their respective groups. With only two more matches remaining in the competition’s group stage, round five proved decisive for the majority of clubs.
It also produced a lot of interesting individual performances from players who delivered when it mattered the most in crucial junctures of the games. Oh, and next week is the IPL 2026 auction if we had forgotten.
With other uncapped players looking to make an impact in front of the franchises, batting and bowling performances flew all over the place in another action-packed round of SMAT. Yet in a round with so many all-round efforts as opposed to its predecessors, where the batsmen had dominated proceedings, some names shone brighter than others.
On that topic, let us take a look at the top five performers in round five of the 2025-26 SMAT.
5. Ashok Sharma
It is not common to have a player causing an impact on a T20 match with the bat and the ball, but that is exactly what Rajasthan seamer Ashok Sharma did in a high-stakes Group D match against Saurashtra. He ripped through the batting line up of the opposition with the ball, and came back with impressive numbers of 4/20 of his four overs to bowl Saurashtra out in 145 off 19.3 overs.
But Rajasthan took their time of the pursuit and were put in an awkward situation half-way through the innings. That was when Sharma came again, but this time with the bat. He entered at No. 10 and with seven balls broke an unbroken 15 to win in a dramatic two-wicket match with a ball left.
4. Suyash Prabhudessai
Goa secured their third victory in five games courtesy of an awesome performance by the skipper Suyash Prabhudessai who played arguably the best batting performance of round five. In pursuit of a target difficult to reach 181 against Bihar Goa were within no time under pressure at 10/2 at the second over.
Prabhudessai, undefeated by the initial hitch, resorted to brilliant performance of 79 of 46 balls to set the pace of the chase that the team won by a dramatic margin of 5 wickets with a ball to spare. His successive score of fifty and above gave him his second consecutive match that he had won without defeat since he had won 75 against Madhya Pradesh the previous week.
3. Mohammed Shami
In the midst of increasing speculation regarding his future in the Indian team of cricket, Mohammed Shami allowed his bowling to speak louder in a round-five match between Bengal and Services. The veteran bowler used new ball to give an example of a masterclass and at the end of his tenure at the death, he hit two times at every stage of the innings.
Shami closed with excellent figures of 4/13 in 3.2 overs only and contributed to Bengal destroying Services by 165. The Bengal batters then had easy time of the chase and got to the target with ample time (almost five overs) to spare and made Shami not have wasted his effort.
2. Soumya Lenka
The rebound of Odisha was followed by the second consecutive victory after four consecutive losses in the very beginning of the tournament, and it was contributed greatly by the young Soumya Lenka. Odisha were already in difficulties against a robust Railways team, 38/4 at seven overs, when Lenka joined the team.
The 22-year-old replied with a breathtaking unbeaten 75 out of 40 deliveries, which took his team to a competitive figure of 169/5. He also became a contributor with the ball himself, registering three wickets in order to give Odisha a dramatic one-run win.
1. Ayush Badoni
Ayush Badoni gave one of his finest all-around performances in a vital game between Delhi and Karnataka one that may end up as the best performance of the 202526 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to date. Having come out to bat early in the innings, he came with a fluent 53, off 35 balls to propel Delhi to an enormous figure of 232/3.
A sensation then followed with the ball. Meanwhile, Badoni disemboweled the middle order in Karnataka using his off-spin and ended with the impressive figures of 4/12 in just two overs. In particular, the decisive penultimate over saw three wickets fall, including that of the highest-ranked batsman, Ravichandran Smaran (72). As a result, Delhi took a massive lead over the opposition, putting them in a commanding position.
