Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), said this on Thursday.

He also promised that better wickets, in other words more sporting pitches,  would be offered for the cricketers in this season of NCL.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the last season of NCL was called off. But the board is confident of hosting the league from March 22 this year.

"We have finalised eight divisional teams with 18 members for each team," Minhajul told the media. "The league may start on March 22. But everything will depend on the progress of the Covid-19 vaccination of the cricketers."

"The better and more competitive cricket we can play in red-ball, the better we do in Tests. So of course, we are keeping an eye on this league so that the players can perform well," Minhajul added.

NCL, the most prestigious first-class event in the country, is often criticised due to the sub-standard wickets. Especially, the wickets do not offer much help to the pace-bowlers. But Minhajul said the board was working hard to make the wickets more sporting.

"We hope that the wickets of these venues will be prepared well. At least two types of wickets will be prepared so that the players get the different challenges and get used to them," he said.

The members of the national team will miss at least two rounds of NCL as they are now travelling to New Zealand for a three-match ODI and three-match T20 series.

By the time they return to Bangladesh, two rounds of NCL will be completed as per the current schedule. However, Minhajul said the national team players may get a chance to play the third round of the league before they fly for Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series.  

Minhajul also said if the national team players fail to attend a round of NCL, the board will try to arrange a three-day practice game in Sri Lanka ahead of the Test series.