Also read: BCB excludes six players from central contracts list
As far as the retention of the cricketers is concerned, a franchise are entitled to retain four players. However, it gave birth to some questions as, according to Nazmul, "a side can retain four cricketers and all four can be local or overseas or a combination of both." Till date, retention is only entitled for the local cricketers and as per last year, a side were allowed to retain four locals, including the Icon player. Confusion over retaining overseas cricketers had come as majority of the players in the BPL are directly contracted and do not come through the players' draft. Majority of the overseas cricketers are usually contracted to a franchise for two or three seasons and systematically, are not entitled to retention. The issue went unexplained in the press conference. This reporter reached a few of the decision makers in the BCB for a possible reason behind the retention of overseas cricketers but none were able to explain. An influential BCB director requesting anonymity said, "I honestly do not know how this decision was made. Maximum overseas cricketers reach agreement with the franchises and do not come through the system. I think the BPL GC needs to explain this decision."