The Delhi Capitals (DC) have suffered a big blow even before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 can underway on March 22. DC will kick off their campaign in Vishakhapatnam with a clash against Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants on March 24.
But the GMR Group and JSW co-owned franchise have suffered a major setback with top England batter Harry Brook pulling out of the IPL 2025 for the second year in a row. Brook was bought for Rs 6.25 crore by the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah last year. He had pulled out of IPL 2024 as well while representing DC citing personal reasons after the death of his grandmother.
Brook’s withdrawal was communicated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last week before being relayed to his franchise, Delhi Capitals (DC), according to a report in ESPNCricinfo website. Neither the IPL nor Brook has officially commented on his decision, and no reason has been provided for his withdrawal.
But this will be bad news for Brook as well as BCCI have come up with changes in their rules ahead of the IPL 2025 edition. According to these new rules, any cricketer who withdraws from the IPL at the last minute ahead of the season without injury concerns, will be banned for a period of 2 years now.
With 18 months remaining on his England central contract and commitments across all formats, workload management could be a possible factor in his decision as he is being billed as next ODI skipper with wicketkeeper Jos Buttler stepping down as captain.
In a memo sent to teams last September, the IPL governing council stated: “Any (overseas) player who registers for (an) auction and, after getting picked, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season will be banned from participating in the IPL/IPL auction for two seasons.”
— Harry Brook (@Harry_Brook_88) March 9, 2025
The only exception to this rule is for injuries or medical conditions, which must be verified by the player’s home board. Brook previously played in the IPL in 2023 for Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he scored 190 runs in 11 matches at an average of 22.11. His standout performance was a century against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
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