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Michael Vaughan spilled the beans that the Delhi Capitals were eyeing Ben Duckett to fill the void left by Harry Brook in IPL 2025. Apparently, DC was keen on bringing the English opener on board as a replacement.
Michael Vaughan declines DC's offer to play in IPL 2025
However, it seems Duckett wasn't interested in the offer and turned it down. Delhi Capitals shelled out a hefty Rs 6.25 crore to secure Brook's services during the IPL 2025 mega auction. But, before the season even kicked off, Brook announced his withdrawal, citing the need to recharge after a hectic schedule and to focus on his international commitments. Interestingly, despite their recent nail-biting one-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), DC is still on the hunt for Brook's replacement and hasn't made any official announcements yet.
“I did hear a whisper that they (Delhi Capitals) went for Ben Duckett but Ben Duckett doesn’t wanna come over," Vaughan was quoted as saying on Cricbuzz.
Word on the street is that Harry Brook is a leading candidate to potentially step into Jos Buttler's shoes as England's white-ball captain. Now, considering Ben Duckett's extensive T20 experience – he's played in 205 matches, racked up 5159 runs with 33 half-centuries, and boasts a striking rate of 140.38 – he would've been a pretty solid replacement for Brook in the Delhi Capitals squad.
However, here's the catch, Duckett is primarily an opening batsman. Since Brook is versatile enough to bat in the middle order, Duckett would've likely found himself in a tussle with Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk for those crucial top two slots in the DC batting lineup. On top of all that, Michael Vaughan also shared his opinion that Brook might have actually benefited more by participating in the IPL.
“I actually look at Harry Brook’s game and I’m not too sure what’s going on away from the game. But in terms of his game to develop, you know, we talked about that bracket, that top bracket – Rachin Ravindra is in that bracket – Harry Brook is not in that bracket at the minute," Vaughan added.
“To get into that bracket, what does he need to get better at? Playing spin. Playing in India. That’s the one area of his game [he needs to improve]. You look at Pakistan: when it’s flat, he’s been incredible, but as soon as the ball spun in Pakistan, he struggled a little bit. I would have thought that playing here in the IPL, particularly given that he’s in the hat to be the T20, white-ball captain. In a year’s time, there’s a T20 World Cup. Where is it? India and Sri Lanka. You’d have thought that this period here playing in the IPL, for his game personally, could have been a really valuable one," Vaughan concluded.
