Defending Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Fortune Barishal have formally appealed to the tournament’s governing council to reschedule the upcoming BPL season, citing a lack of preparation time and logistical challenges.
Fortune Barishal Seek Extension Ahead of BPL 2025-26
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) recently announced that the next edition of the BPL will begin in mid-December 2025 and will feature five teams instead of the usual seven. Following the announcement, the BCB invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) for new 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),” 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝑪𝑩’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒃𝒖𝒛𝒛.
The rights will be granted for five consecutive seasons (12th–16th), with ten potential franchise regions identified — Barishal, Chattogram, Cumilla, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet.
Mizanur Rahman: “We Just Need More Time to Prepare”
In response to speculation about Barishal’s possible withdrawal, franchise owner Mizanur Rahman clarified that the team is not refusing participation but has requested additional time to organize finances and logistics.
“𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝑷𝑳,” 𝑴𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅. “𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 24 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉.”
Mizanur further suggested that the BPL could be moved to April or May, allowing franchises to adequately prepare. “We’ve always supported the tournament and don’t want to miss out, but doing it just for the sake of it wouldn’t be right,” he added.
Addressing questions about Tamim Iqbal’s availability, Mizanur dismissed rumors that the former Bangladesh captain would skip the BPL due to his ongoing issues with the new BCB president, Aminul Islam.
“𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒎. 𝑰𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚,” 𝑴𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒅.
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