This time, not only the players, but the franchises also have a bunch of foreign stars as coaches, mentors and hosts of the teams. Star cricketers from England, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and several other countries have set foot in Dhaka in the past few days.

Among them are West Indies' Rahkim Cornwall, Pakistan's pace star Shaheen Shah Afridi, England's wicketkeeper-batter Stephen Eskinazi, Afghanistan's star all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera, all of whom will be playing for different franchises this time. One of them is Shahid Afridi. He set foot in Dhaka yesterday as a mentor and brand ambassador of Chittagong Kings. And he says in broken Bengali, 'I have moved to Bangladesh.'

However, Shahid Afridi had also played as a cricketer in several seasons of the BPL before. Afridi played for Dhaka Gladiators in the first season of the BPL. In the subsequent seasons, he played for Sylhet Superstars, Rangpur Riders, Dhaka Dynamites, Comilla Victorians and Dhaka Platoon.