The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has finalized five franchises for the 12th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The BCB announced the names of the final five teams after a meeting on Tuesday.

BCB said that Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Rangpur have been given teams. Among them, Dhaka is owned by Champion Sports, Rangpur is owned by Togi Sports, Desh Travels and Nabil Group wanted a team from Rajshahi. Nabil Group got the ownership. Chittagong has been given to Triangle Sports, and Sylhet has been owned by Cricket with Sami.

Mind Tree, the owner of the old BPL franchise Khulna Tigers, also applied to take the team. But in the end, they did not get the team. Akashbari Holidays applied to take the team from Barisal. In the end, they also did not get the franchise.

Eleven franchises applied to host a BPL team. Of these, three were dropped as they failed to meet the BCB’s criteria. The BCB has finalized five of the eight remaining franchises.

BPL Governing Council Member Secretary Iftikhar Rahman Mithu told a press conference that it would not be surprising if four teams were formed during the player draft if the conditions are not met. It was also announced that the BPL players draft will be held on November 17.

BCB wants to organize the upcoming BPL while being strict on financial matters. Earlier, BCB has said that they want to start the BPL in the last half of December.