Defending Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions, Fortune Barishal, have requested the BPL governing council to reschedule the upcoming tournament, citing difficulties in preparing on short notice.
The league’s governing council had recently announced that the next edition of the BPL will feature only five teams and is scheduled to commence in mid-December. Following this announcement, the council invited Expressions of Interest for franchise ownership rights for the BPL T20.
"The Bangladesh Cricket
Board (BCB) has officially opened the process for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from reputed business houses, companies, and entities for the acquisition of Franchise Ownership Rights in the Bangladesh Premier League T20 (BPLT20)," BCB said in a statement on Sunday as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“The rights will be granted for five consecutive editions, [from the] 12th-16th seasons of the tournament. The BCB has outlined ten (10) potential franchise regions as follows: Barishal, Chattogram, Cumilla, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet. As part of a transparent and merit-based process, the BPL Governing Council will consider a minimum of five (5) eligible EOI submissions for the 12th edition of the BPL T20 (2026)," it added.
Since the announcement, there has been widespread speculation that Fortune Barishal may not participate in the tournament, however, their owner, Mizanur Rahman, insists otherwise.
"I haven't said that I won't play in the BPL. All I said is that in this short span of time it will be difficult for a team like us to play, and so we wanted them to extend the time. Everyone is calling me and I told them (BCB) that it's too small and it is becoming impossible for a team like us (to prepare for the tournament). Even if we have players, we have to organize the funds and the instruments that we need to buy [players], we have to bring them and in this one or one-and-a-half months even if we work for 24 hours we cannot do that. I have requested for a different slot and now let's see what they say,” said Mizanur.
"I haven't said that we won't play but if the slot is changed in that case we would...because we have always been with the game and we are not out of the game. I don't think any good team will be willing to play in this short time and you can even ask Rangpur (Riders), and what I feel is that a team that doesn't have the experience will be willing to play. I just wanted to buy some time...We can do it in April and May, and what is the problem?! You can give the team (for the next cycle) and give us some time so that we can organize it well. I don't think there is any point in doing it just for the sake of it and I don't think it would be right to do BPL without us," he added.
Mizanur also addressed concerns regarding their captain, Tamim Iqbal, following the former international’s announcement that he would be boycotting all forms of cricket under the leadership of the newly appointed BCB president, Aminul Islam.
"I don't think there is any such thing (that Tamim won't play in BPL) and I think he said about it (boycotting cricket) regarding normal game. If the BPL happens I will request him to play and I feel that if Barishal plays he will play,” Mizanur concluded.
