The Inter-State T20 Championship was the original name of the BCCI's main domestic T-20 event, which was changed and reintroduced as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It consisted of 27 Ranji teams divided into five Zones. In the first SMAT Trophy, Rohit Sharma recorded the first T20 century by an Indian while chasing a total of 140+ vs Gujarat. He did it for Mumbai in the very next game after scoring 40+ not out in the previous game.

Each Zone's champion and runner-up advance to the elimination round. The knockout phase was replaced by a Super League in the 2012–13 season, where the champions and runners-up from each Zone are divided into 2 groups and also the winner advances to the final. The BCCI stated in June 2016 that a zonal-based tournament will take the place of the championship. The BCCI returned to including all domestic teams the very next season.

The zonal system was eliminated after nine additional clubs were added to the domestic league for the 2018–19 season, and teams are now split into five (5) groups with the champions and runners-up advancing to the Super League. The Super League group winners compete in the Final after the 10 clubs are split into two groups.

The Twenty20 cricket competition (also known as Twenty-20 or T20) was first played in 2003 to establish a quick-paced style of cricket. In a Twenty20 cricket match, each of the two competing teams is allowed a single inning with a maximum of 20 overs. Meaning that a normal match lasts around three hours, with an interval of ten minutes between each inning of roughly ninety minutes. The ICC recognizes First-class and List-A cricket as the two highest domestic or international forms of cricket, although Twenty20 cricket is considered one of the tops despite being a very brief game.

The inter-state T20 championship, which was played by the 27 teams competing in the Ranji Trophy competition using the state format introduced that year, was first given by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) two years before to the tournament's 2008–2009 debut. The BCCI decided to increase the number of teams competing in the Ranji Trophy event to 38 for the 15th edition of the trophy — the 2022–2023 season – thus affecting Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Yet there was no real change in the organization. Five groups made up of all the teams, three of which have seven teams each, and the other two containing eight teams, are formed. The leading two teams in each group proceed to the next stage, and games within each group are played in a round-robin system (similar to a league where every other team plays against every other team). Each group in the second stage, which consists of two groups of five (5) teams each, was contested like a super league. The winning side from each group advances to the final, where they will face off in a traditional T20 match of Indian cricket.