Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul has revealed plans to expand the National Cricket League (NCL) by introducing a 50-over competition in the near future.
Speaking at the launch of the second edition of the NCL T20, which begins on September 14, Bulbul said the board wanted to create more opportunities for domestic cricketers and reduce the country’s reliance on a single List A tournament.
“We only have one List A 50-over tournament and that is the Dhaka Premier League,” Bulbul said. “We will try to organise another List A tournament with our divisional teams. We will discuss it and will find a slot in the calendar. We are now playing four-day cricket and T20 cricket in the NCL. We will seek the time, date and venues for the NCL 50-over tournament.”
The announcement comes at a time when Bangladeshi cricket has been under scrutiny following allegations of fixing during the 2024-25 Bangladesh Premier League. The BCB was forced to form an independent inquiry committee earlier this year to investigate corruption, mismanagement and systemic failures within the competition.
Against this backdrop, Bulbul urged everyone involved in the NCL T20 to protect the integrity of the game.
“I humbly request to those who will officiate and be involved in the matches, please protect the game,” he said. “There will be many kinds of fixing offers and we have to be careful in order to keep the event clean. For the existence of Bangladesh cricket, we must organise events where nobody can question any match or incident.”
BCB tournament committee chairman Akram Khan added that two new venues, Rajshahi and Bogura, had been included in this year’s edition of the NCL T20. He expressed hope that improved facilities and star names would attract large crowds.
“In order to popularise cricket, we included Bogura and Rajshahi this year. There were a lot of challenges but we tried to make the wickets better and brought pitch covers from Dhaka,” Akram said. “We are expecting huge crowds in Rajshahi and Bogura as many children will come to see the big stars and hopefully be inspired to become cricketers.”
Reigning champions Rangpur Division captain Akbar Ali also looked ahead with optimism, predicting a competitive tournament. “I think all the squads are very much balanced. We will get to see competitive cricket in all games,” he said.
With the BCB now preparing to explore a 50-over NCL, domestic players could soon have another major platform to showcase their skills.
