BCB Announces Three-Team T20 League During T20 World Cup Window

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced a three-team T20 tournament titled the Odommo Bangladesh T20 Cup, set to begin on February 5 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

The competition will feature many of the country’s leading cricketers who will miss the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after the Bangladesh government barred the national team from travelling to India.

Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Akbar Ali have been named captains of Dhumketu XI, Durbar XI and Duronto XI respectively. Each team will play the others once in a round-robin format, with group-stage matches scheduled for February 5, 6 and 7. The top two teams will qualify for the final, to be played on February 9. All matches will be held at the same venue.

The BCB has also confirmed that the tournament will introduce the Impact Player rule, marking the first time the regulation will be used in an official match in Bangladesh. Under the rule, one player from the starting XI can be substituted at any stage of the match by a twelfth player selected from a list announced at the toss.

According to a BCB press release, the tournament has been granted official T20 status and will offer total prize money and player fees worth Tk 2.5 crore (approximately USD 204,500).

Several Bangladesh players have privately expressed concern over missing the T20 World Cup, though none have publicly detailed their reactions or the substance of their January 24 meeting with government officials.

Bangladesh’s participation in the World Cup came into doubt after sports adviser Asif Nazrul stated that the team would not travel to India, a stance announced days after the BCCI withdrew Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League. The decision triggered a series of discussions among cricket administrators, and three weeks later the ICC officially named Scotland as Bangladesh’s replacement after negotiations failed to reach a resolution.

The new T20 tournament comes at a time when Bangladesh’s domestic season has been relatively light in terms of on-field action. Several domestic teams have boycotted the Dhaka leagues, while the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League has yet to take place during the 2025–26 season.