IPL 2025: Harry Brook Faces Risk of 2-Year Auction Ban After Withdrawing From Indian Premier League Season 18

Harry Brook has pulled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 and now faces the risk of a two-year ban from the tournament after the England batter withdrew from the cash-rich league for the second successive season.

Brook, who was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 6.5 crore at the IPL Mega Auction last year, took to social media to announce his decision on Sunday (March 9) just a couple of weeks before the new IPL season gets underway.

The 26-year-old apologized "unreservedly" to the Delhi Capitals franchise and the team's supporters. He acknowledged not everyone will understand his decision, but stressed that playing for England remains his "priority and focus."

"I have made the very difficult decision to pull out of the upcoming IPL. I apologize unreservedly to the Delhi Capitals and their supporters," Brook wrote on social media. "It is a really important time for England cricket and I want to fully commit to preparing for the upcoming series.

"In order to do this, I need time to recharge after the busiest period in my career to date. I know not everyone will understand, and I don't expect them to, but I have to do what I believe is right and playing for my country remains my priority and focus."

Brook is one of the favorites, along with England test captain Ben Stokes, to replace Jos Buttler as England's white-ball captain following the team's group-stage elimination at the bygone Champions Trophy 2025.

According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, Brook's move to pull out from the league was conveyed by the officials of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last week and then revealed to his franchise Delhi Capitals (DC).

The report also added that nothing officially has emerged on the matter from the IPL and Brook has not given a reason for his withdrawal so far. But the England batter is likely to face punishment after the IPL Governing Council had made some stringent rules to reduce the issue of player withdrawals without a geniune reason.

Before the IPL 2025 auction last year, the league's Governing Council put in place a rule which read, "Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for two seasons."

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this latest pull out as it was Brook's second successive withdrawal from the league. Earlier in 2024, Brook had pulled out because he wanted to be with his family following the death of his grandmother, which also saw him miss England's Test tour to India in February.

The 26-year-old was part of the Delhi Capitals line-up even in IPL 2024, but was released ahead of 2025 mega auction, where the franchise decided to buy him again at the two-day bidding process in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last year.

Delhi Capitals, who start their season against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 24, will need to find a replacement for Brook, who has had only stint in the IPL, coming back in 2023 when he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for Rs 13.25 crore.

In his previous stint with SRH, Brook amassed 190 runs in 11 matches at an average of 22.11, with a century against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) being a standout knock. The England batter was released post that season before being picked up by DC for Rs 4 Crore.