8 caps for 8 Captains

A new era has dawned in the country’s first-class cricket. ‘Baggy Caps’ were officially presented to the Captains of the eight National Cricket League (NCL) teams on Wednesday. Former cricketers placed the caps on the Captains’ heads.

Khulna team Captain Mohammad Mithun said, “We play domestic cricket precisely to make an impact in international cricket. Since first-class cricket exists because of Test cricket and you know the ‘Baggy Cap’ is a symbol of Test cricket. The colour doesn’t really matter here. We will embrace whatever color we have been given. We now know we have a color of our own. Owning that is very important.”

Mithun stated that high-quality first-class cricket is the key to overall success, noting,
“A country’s Test cricket is only as good as its first-class cricket. For so long, this was merely a matter of lip service; the standards never truly matched what they ought to have been. But now that is finally happening, and the players are all happy about it”, Mithun said.

The country’s 2026-27 domestic cricket seasons is set to kick off with the four-day matches of the National Cricket League. The first phase of the league, featuring eight teams, will get underway on October 3 across four venues in the country.

A total of four matches of this year’s National League will be held at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. This first-class tournament, featuring eight divisional teams from across the country, will span approximately two months.

The National League will conclude with the final round of matches on November 17. In the opening round, Dhaka will face defending Champions Rangpur at Mirpur.

Khulna will take on Barishal at the Khulna Divisional Stadium, Sylhet will play Mymensingh at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and Chattogram will face Rajshahi at the Bir Shrestha Matiur Rahman Stadium in Chattogram.