The National Cricket League was inaugurated in the 1999–2000 season but did not then have first-class status. Bangladesh became the tenthFull Member of theInternational Cricket Council in 2000 and consequently the league became first-class in the 2000–01 season. Limited-overs and Twenty20 tournaments with the same name have also been played in the past.
Since 2011–12 there have been eight teams in the league, which usually runs from October to December. From 2011–12 to 2014–15 each team played every other team once over the course of the season. From 2015–16 to 2023–24 there was a two-tier league: Rangpur, Khulna, Dhaka Division and Dhaka Metropolis were in the first tier in 2015–16, and Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Chittagong in the second.[1] After each season the bottom team of tier 1 and the top team of tier 2 swapped places for the next season's competition.[2] For the 2024–25 season the league reverted to an eight-team round-robin. For the 2025–26 season, a new team representingMymensingh Division replaced the Dhaka Metropolis team.[3]
The league is also sometimes known under its main sponsor's name. In 2015–16 it was officially the "Walton LED TV 17th National Cricket League". In October 2019 theWalton Group became the title sponsor of NCL for the next three years, and the league would be known officially as the "Walton NCL".[4][5] In 2024–25 it was the "Modhumoti Bank 26th National Cricket League".[6]
2024–25
