England's superstar cricketer Harry Brook might be banned from future IPL tournaments for two years after he withdrew from his contract with the Delhi Capitals for the second consecutive season. Delhi Capitals purchased Brook for INR 6.25 crore in the IPL mega auction last November. According to ESPNcricinfo, the ECB authorities informed the BCCI of his decision to withdraw last week.
Brook could suffer a two-year ban
The IPL has not yet released an official statement regarding the development, and Brook has not provided an explanation for his decision to opt out. He is regarded as the front-runner to succeed Jos Buttler as England's white-ball captain after their Champions Trophy group-stage loss, though, and since he is an all-formats player with 18 months left on his ECB central contract, workload management may play a role in the withdrawal.
A request for comment has been made to the ECB. In any case, the ruling puts him at risk of an IPL two-year ban. All ten teams voiced their displeasure with a history of late pullouts by foreign players, which prompted the implementation of the new rule prior to the 2025 auction.
"Any [overseas] player who registers for [an] auction and, after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season will get banned from participating in the IPL/IPL auction for two seasons," IPL had stated to the franchises last Septemeber
BCCI stated that excpetions will only be made if "an injury/medical condition, which will have to be confirmed by the [player's] home board".
Brook has pulled out of the Capitals right before the start of the IPL season for the second consecutive year. After his grandmother passed away in March of last year, ten days before their season-opening game, Brook told the Capitals he was leaving the 2024 IPL to be with his family. He had already withdrawn from England's Test tour of India in February due to the loss.
The Capitals' first game against the Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam on March 24 will kick off the 2025 IPL, which begins on March 22. The Capitals have yet to name their captain and identify a replacement for Brook. To far, Brook has only participated in one IPL season, in 2023, during which he had a challenging season with Sunrisers Hyderabad. More than half of his 190 runs at 22.11 in 11 games came in one outstanding innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, where he scored 100 runs off of 55 balls.