Khulna is set to miss out on hosting matches in the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) proposed new domestic tournament, after work at Khulna Division Cricket Stadium failed to progress quickly enough to meet the expected schedule.
The competition, tentatively named Bangladesh First, was being planned as a new addition to Bangladesh’s domestic cricket calendar. The BCB had initially considered Khulna Division Cricket Stadium and Jibanananda Das Cricket Stadium in Barishal as venues for at least the group stage. The semi-finals and final could potentially be staged in Sylhet.
That plan is now being revised. According to a source within the tournament committee, the Khulna venue will no longer host matches in the upcoming competition because the necessary work at the stadium is not expected to be completed on time.
The matches originally planned for Khulna could instead be moved to Mirpur, although the alternative arrangement has not yet been formally confirmed. The BCB is still working on the final venue plan, meaning the exact location of the affected fixtures remains subject to change.
The tournament itself does not yet have a confirmed start date. A possible window has been discussed for the end of December or the beginning of January, but the final schedule is yet to be settled. The competition’s name, venues and dates are expected to be confirmed once the organisers complete their planning.
Khulna’s exclusion is particularly significant given the venue’s long history with Bangladesh cricket. Khulna Division Cricket Stadium is the only major cricket ground in the southern part of the country and has previously hosted international matches. For years, the venue was part of Bangladesh’s international cricket circuit, attracting both national teams and local supporters.
The stadium last hosted an international match in January 2016, when Bangladesh faced Zimbabwe in a four-match Twenty20 International series. The series ended in a 2-2 draw.
Since then, Khulna has remained involved in domestic cricket, primarily through the National Cricket League’s four-day matches. However, opportunities to host other national competitions have been limited, leaving the venue largely outside the schedule of major domestic tournaments.
The ground did host another notable international series in July 2023, when Bangladesh Under-19 played South Africa Under-19 in a three-match one-day series. That series provided a brief return to higher-level limited-overs cricket in Khulna.
Since then, however, the city’s cricket calendar has once again been largely confined to four-day National Cricket League fixtures. The proposed new tournament had therefore offered a significant opportunity to bring a different form of competitive cricket back to the venue.
For local supporters, the planned group-stage matches would have represented a chance to watch a new national-level competition on home soil. The decision to move the fixtures means that opportunity will not materialise in the upcoming edition, at least under the current plan.
If Mirpur is ultimately selected as the replacement venue, the matches originally earmarked for Khulna would be transferred to the capital. That would also require the organisers to adjust their initial plan of spreading the group-stage fixtures between Khulna and Barishal before potentially moving the knockout stages to Sylhet.
The BCB has yet to announce the final details of the competition, so the number of matches affected by the change is also not clear. The proposed dates remain tentative, and further changes could be made before the schedule is officially released.
For Khulna, the latest development extends a lengthy wait for a return to a more prominent position in Bangladesh’s domestic cricket calendar. The venue continues to host National Cricket League matches, but the chance to stage the BCB’s new tournament will now have to wait until a future occasion.
