Smooth scheduling and rise of new talents

Four recognised tournaments were held without much of a hitch during the eight-month long Bangladesh domestic season, from mid-September to the end of May. It is a departure from several precious years when finishing a season had been a predicament.

The 2014-15 season started with Bangladesh A taking on Zimbabwe A in two four-day matches and three one-dayers from September 24 to October 1. The Dhaka Premier League began five weeks later on November 11 and ran till January 4 and three weeks later, the National Cricket League first-class competition began on January 25.

The tournament took 46 days to end, after which the Bangladesh Cricket League one-dayers were introduced in April. After the seven-day competition, the BCL first-class competition was from April 21 to May 27.

The NCL was held during a three-month long general blockade across the country, which made it hard to run the tournament logistically. But the BCB didn't halt the tournament due to the political violence, neither did it stop during international series being held at home.

Some new names popped up while the experienced ones continued to stay in the headlines through strong performances in the domestic competitions. Rony Talukdar started the season as the highest-scorer in the Dhaka Premier League with 714 runs with Litton Das close in second position with 686 runs. Among the bowlers, left-arm spinner Elias Sunny was the highest wicket-taker with 31 scalps while Asif Hasan, also a left-arm spinner, was in second position with 27 wickets.

Litton finished the season's National Cricket League on 1,024 runs at 85.33 while Talukdar ended fourth with 777 runs at 70.63. He and Mosaddek Hossain got two double-hundreds in the competition. Sunny was the highest wicket-taker in the NCL too, bagging 42 wickets in seven matches.

Alok Kapali's 408 runs at an average of 102 was the highlight of the BCL first-class competition while Abdur Razzak, who had taken 41 wickets in the NCL, took 18 more in the BCL.

Jubair Hossain was an Under-19 bowler who was called up to the Bangladesh nets ahead of their summer ODIs against India at home and again before their autumn tour to West Indies last year. He made his first-class debut against Zimbabwe A and impressed the senior team's management and selectors enough to find a place in the Test and ODI teams against Zimbabwe in October and November.

He was the subject of a tug-of-war between Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha and the selection committee, but in the meantime, he was mostly ignored by Abahani in the Dhaka Premier League and later took 16 wickets in five first-class matches.

Like it had been for many years, there have been a lot of questions raised about umpiring during the Dhaka Premier League this season too. Three club officials belonging to Legends of Rupganj were handed bans for, among other things, complaining about umpire appointments during DPL matches.

Match-fixing allegations also dogged the domestic scene after Khulna Division alleged Dhaka Metropolis players of throwing their match against Rangpur Division in the season finale. The BCB's anti-corruption unit has started to investigate the matter.

Between the Bangladesh team returning from the World Cup and the preparation for the home series against Pakistan, the BCB suddenly decided to hold a one-day version of the Bangladesh Cricket League. The tournament would be used as preparation for the senior team. A similar thing happened in the last round of the BCL's first-class competition, used as preparation for Bangladesh's sole Test against India in June.

It wasn't the first time that the focus of tournament was centered on the Bangladesh team's preparations rather than domestic competition. But as it happens, the national players have a hard time motivating themselves for such tournaments.

Alok Kapali ended the season as the highest scorer in all first-class matches with 1,156 runs at 88.92 with double-hundreds for Sylhet Division and East Zone. But chief selector Faruque Ahmed has said towards the end of the season that he wasn't even in their "Plan B".

Abdur Razzak was the season's highest wicket-taker in first-class cricket but he too has been ignored since the West Indies tour last year. He missed out on a Bangladesh central contract for the first time in 10 years before being also ignored in the High Performance and the elite spinners' squads. Tushar Imran, who last played for Bangladesh in 2007, averaged 83.60 in 17 first-class innings for Khulna Division and South Zone.

Litton Das and Mosaddek Hossain are two out of the three batsmen who scored more than 1,000 first-class runs. Both batsmen, who are under the age of 23, are likely to progress to the senior team in the next couple of seasons.

Litton made it to the T20 and Test squads against Pakistan while Mosaddek, who was suffering from jaundice for the first half of the season, is becoming more dominant in domestic cricket.

Left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman has been impressive in domestic cricket as well as on his T20 international debut in mid-April. Jubair Hossain started his debut season positively but as Litton, Mosaddek and Mustafizur have done since starting in the previous season, he also has to keep improving.

Throughout the season, there was only one T20 played, between Bangladesh and Pakistan on April 24, 2015. BCB didn't hold a domestic T20 competition as the Bangladesh Premier League continued to be shelved since its last edition in 2013.

Whether it is affecting Bangladesh cricket is hard to say, but the BCB seems to be still in shock after the happenings of the first two BPL seasons, which were dogged by match-fixing allegations and player payment difficulties, among other things.