The National Cricket League (NCL) T20 has provided a laudable setting for Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to gauge performances in the shortest format with plenty of new names coming into focus and selectors getting to see players perform specific roles.

The tournament itself carries weight in terms of readying players for international cricket. In the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the main goal of franchises is not to develop talents to serve the greater interest of Bangladesh cricket, but to field the team that gives them the best chances of lifting the trophy.

Even in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL), a competitive fervor overtakes everything as teams overlook young players in favour of aged stars who provide more solidity.

But young players getting sidelined in these competitions has resulted in the creation of a weak pipeline of players in the T20 format for Bangladesh, for which the Tigers have struggled plenty in international cricket.

The NCL T20 has given local players a platform to highlight their capabilities. A player like Akbar Ali for instance, who has not yet lived up to the promise he showed at the Under-19 level, batted at number five in six off his seven innings at the NCL T20 for Rangpur Division and has accumulated 201 runs at an average of 50.25 and a strike close to 160.

Usually, Akbar bats at number seven in all competitions and as a result finishes lower down the run-scorer's charts, which does not highlight his impact.

But in the NCL T20, the right-hander, like many others, has flourished and outgoing head of programs David Moore wanted this trend to continue as he told The Daily Star that he wanted batters who have potential to, "bat higher and score hundreds in first-class."

A BCB official said, "This time a lot of players are batting higher, Akbar is batting at five. NCL is our tournament, so we can request teams to play some players in certain roles and positions. The selection panel had sought that opportunity with how players had been distributed."

Youngster like Jishan Alam has made a statement, finishing as the top-scorer in the group phase with 281 runs for Sylhet Division which also included a hundred and even Under-19 team player Azizul Hakim Tamim has made an impression is right now the fourth in the run-getter's list, much to the delight of the selectors.

"We are overall very satisfied with how the tournament has went so far," selector Abdur Razzak told The Daily Star. "We have been able to see a lot of players. There was no T20 tournament like this before… It has opened up opportunities for us to watch players and they are proving what they can do."

Akbar, Jishan and Azizul were amongst the runs in the final day of the group-stage of the NCL T20 today.

Dhaka Metro and Rangpur Division had already ensured their berth in the qualifiers and after the end of the league phase today, Khulna Division and Chattogram Division made the other two qualifying places. Dhaka Division, despite a 19-run win over Barishal Division, finished fifth, with Chattogram edging them in net run rate.

Khulna posted 195-4 thanks to Azizul's 66, Mohammad Mithun's 71, and quickfire 19-ball 40 from Imrul Kayes. Despite Akbar's 29-ball 52, Rangpur finished on 161-9, losing the match by 34 runs.

National team skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto's 78 off 48 balls powered Rajshahi to 181-8 and despite Jishan's explosive 60 off 32 balls, Sylhet Division finished on 155-8, conceding a 26-run defeat.

Metro's 17-run win over Chattogram saw them finish league phase with seven out of seven wins.

Khulna and Chattogram will next face off in the first eliminator on Saturday morning while Metro will face Rangpur in the afternoon in the first qualifier in the afternoon.

The winner of the eliminator match will take on the loser of the first qualifier on Sunday. The final will be on Tuesday.