A total of 11 companies had expressed interest in owning teams in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Of these, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) invited nine companies for discussions on Thursday. Notably, SQ Sports previously associated with the Chittagong Kings franchise and the new applicant Desh Travels were not among those initially called.
It was initially thought that Desh Travels would not secure a team, but the company has now made it to the final list. However, two other organisations have been dropped. Among them, Bangla Mark, which wanted to represent the Noakhali franchise, has been excluded after the preliminary evaluation process.
In addition, Mind Trio, the company that owned the Khulna Tigers franchise, has not been included in the upcoming season. The reason behind their exclusion has not been disclosed. Khulna Tigers had been a regular participant in recent editions of the BPL, featuring players such as Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Afif Hossain.
BPL Governing Council member secretary Iftikhar Rahman Mithu explained,
“The number has been reduced from 11 to 8. Our chartered accountant firm reviewed the Expression of Interest (EOI) documents, and three companies were disqualified due to incomplete documentation. After the initial verification and assessment, the BPL Governing Council’s legal department, consultancy firm, and chartered accountancy firm reviewed the submissions of all 11 EOI participants.”
He added,
“Three companies, SQ Sports Enterprise, Bangla Mark Limited, and Mind Trio & Ruposhi Concrete Limited Consortium failed to meet the process requirements. The final list of qualified EOI participants will be officially announced on the 4th after the assessment report is completed by the legal and audit teams.”
It had already been reported that this season’s BPL could feature a total of six teams. Eight companies are now competing for those six available franchises. Rangpur Riders are expected to retain ownership of the Rangpur franchise, while Triangle Services Limited remains in contention for the Chattogram franchise.
Champion Sports Limited has applied for the Dhaka franchise and has also made the final cut. SS Group has applied for the Cumilla franchise. Nabil Group and Desh Travels are both eyeing the Rajshahi franchise, while Akashbari Holidays has applied for Barishal and JM Sports Entertainment for Sylhet.
