Mymensingh replace Dhaka Metro in NCL

Mymensingh Division finally made its way to play the country's first class cricket tournament National Cricket League (NCL), 10 years after it got the division status. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) included Mymensingh in the NCL in its board meeting on Saturday, replacing Dhaka Metro.

"Mymensingh Division will participate in the four-day competition of the upcoming National Cricket League (NCL). BCB is determined to take Mymensingh forward," BCB director and Media Committee Chairman Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu told the reporters after the board approved Mymensingh as a team of NCL.

After getting divisional status, Mymensingh was supposed to run its own team in cricket. The Mymensingh District Sports Association did everything, including applying multiple times, sending letters to government offices, forming human chains, and making strong demands at various cricket events. 

Finally, the BCB led by Aminul Islam Bulbul's board has responded to it.

The NCL is set to be held in October-November and before that the T20 version of the league, the NCL T20 will be held in September. However, as all the arrangements for the NCL T20 are almost finalized, Mymensingh will not play the T20 tournament. 

Two teams from Dhaka-Dhaka Metro and Dhaka Division earlier participated in the NCL. The Dhaka divisional team will remain as before. However, Dhaka Metro will be abolished to accommodate Mymensingh. 

Explaining the reason for taking Mymensingh over Dhaka Metro, BCB Director and Cricket Operations Chairman Nazmul Abedeen Fahim said, "When the Rangpur division came in 2011, the number of teams in the tournament was increased to seven from six, the Dhaka Metro team was also brought in, so that eight teams can take part in the tournament. This was in the previous minutes of the BCB meeting."

"This time, if Mymensingh is brought in, the team will become nine. For the same reason as before, one team is being reduced to keep the number of teams to eight."

Stating that the BCB is making every effort to make the league competitive and maintain the standard, Fahim added, "The issue of quality is also noteworthy here. We can also have 10-12 teams if we want. But we want to maintain the standard."

"We have heard many times that many people have proposed that instead of eight teams, the tournament should have six teams, which can make the league more competitive. I don't know if someday there may be six teams, but for now we are keeping eight teams."