NEW DELHI: Hardik Pandya is set for a highly anticipated return to competitive cricket as the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (SMAT) kicks off across four venues on Wednesday. The tournament will not only mark his comeback from injury but also serve as an opportunity for several emerging domestic players to make a statement ahead of the IPL auction.

The star all-rounder has been out of action since sustaining a quadricep injury during the Asia Cup in September. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India in February-March, Hardik will focus exclusively on the shortest format in the coming months.

SMAT now becomes a crucial stage for him to display full fitness and form before India's T20I series against South Africa starting December 9.

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The competition will be staged across four cities - Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Lucknow - with Shardul Thakur's Mumbai entering the event as defending champions.

Beginning Wednesday, Baroda are scheduled to play seven league matches until December 8, and head coach Mukund Parmar is hopeful that the star India all-rounder will feature in most of them.

"He has not yet joined the squad but we expect him to play majority of the games. His presence always provides a big boost to the squad," Parmar told PTI.

Also in action will be captain Suryakumar Yadav who too is expected to play most of Mumbai's group games.

The India skipper, who has been struggling for runs over the past 12 months, would be looking to carry plenty of runs into the five-match series against South Africa.

Shivam Dube is also expected to feature for Mumbai in the group stage.

Mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy has been named captain of the Tamil Nadu squad and should be available for the group stage. The same is the case for Kerala captain Sanju Samson.

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Prithvi Shaw, once touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, could not even find an IPL team in the auction last year.

He has now moved to Maharashtra from Mumbai in domestic cricket and a productive outing in SMAT before the auction might put him back on the IPL stage.

In Ruturaj Gaikwad's absence, Shaw will be leading the side in the group stage.

Karnataka captain Mayank Agarwal, once an IPL regular, would also be aiming for a bagful of runs to convince IPL teams of his value in the shortest format.

Back home after a stint with Uttar Pradesh, Nitsh Rana will captain Delhi following a forgettable first half of Ranji Trophy.

Assam captain Riyan Parag and MP's Venkatesh Iyer too would be looking to make the most of the opportunity, the latter being released by KKR due to his hefty price tag of Rs 23.75 crore.

(With PTI Inputs)