Last season's winners of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Fortune Barishal, have requested the BPL council to reschedule the upcoming edition of the tournament, citing that they will not get enough time to prepare for the tournament. In a recent announcement, the BPL governing council announced that the upcoming season of the tournament will take place in mid-December and will include only five teams. Following this announcement, the council also invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from companies interested in owning a team for the next five seasons. As quoted by Cricbuzz, BCB said in an official statement: "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)." The statement further mentioned that BCB has listed 10 potential franchise regions, including Barishal, Chattogram, Cumilla, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet. Also Read: BPL Next Edition to Feature Five Teams in Short One-Month Window After this announcement, rumours were spreading that Fortune Barishal will not participate in the upcoming season. The confusion later caught fire after team captain Tamim Iqbal said they were boycotting cricket activities under the leadership of newly elected BCB president Aminul Islam. But the team owner, Mizanur Rahman, later clarified that they are not refusing to play instead, they are asking for more preparation time. As quoted by Cricbuzz, Rahman said: "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).” He further added: “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.” Despite Barishal’s request, the BPL council has said that the upcoming edition of the BPL tournament will go as planned between mid-December to mid-January and will include five teams.