The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has launched a new six-team franchise competition that will bring first-class, List A and T20 cricket under one tournament structure from the 2026–27 season.
Called Domestic 3 (D3), the competition will combine the Bangladesh Cricket League’s first-class and List A tournaments with the National Cricket League’s T20 event. The T20 tournament is expected to begin on December 15, followed by the first-class competition in January and the one-day tournament in May.
The BCB has signed three-year agreements with the six franchise owners: Walton, Acme Laboratories, ACE Blue Star, Citizens Bank, Seven Rings Cement and Fortune Group. Each is reportedly set to pay BDT 2.5 crore per season, including match fees.
BCB president Tamim Iqbal said the competition aims to bring renewed interest to domestic cricket. The board will hold a draft for team management later this week, allowing franchises to bid for coaches. A players’ draft is planned for next month, with each team selecting 23 cricketers for the three formats.
The franchises’ icon players are Mehidy Hasan Miraz for Walton, Towhid Hridoy for Fortune Group, Mosaddek Hossain for Acme Laboratories, Mushfiqur Rahim for Seven Rings Cement, Nurul Hasan for ACE Blue Star and Mohammad Naim for Citizens Bank.
Bangladesh’s domestic season is scheduled to begin on October 3 with the region-based National Cricket League first-class tournament, featuring the country’s eight divisions. (Newswire)