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Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has discussed the recent IPL ban imposed on England star batter Harry Brook. Following England’s miserable performance in white-ball cricket against India and the Champions Trophy 2025 failure, Jos Buttler resigned from England’s limited-over captaincy. Brook, who has looked impressive with his bat for England in recent years, is one of the contenders for the top job. A couple of weeks ahead of IPL 2025, Brook withdrew from the T20 tournament and this was the second time in a row he pulled out of the league. The 26-year-old was associated with Delhi Capitals (DC) after getting sold at INR 6.25 crore in the IPL 2025 auction held in Jeddah.
After Brook’s decision, BCCI took stern action against the England player and imposed a two-year ban from the distinguished T20 competition. Clarke has supported BCCI’s stance and has said the ban will set a precedent for the future. He also added that players can’t withdraw from the tournament because they didn’t get their expected prices in the auction, and withdrawals should be permitted only in case of emergency.
"What did Harry Brook get bought for? Imagine he's on a full contract with the ECB and he's been banned now. Because this is what happens as well. A lot of players go into the auction, they don't get picked up for the amount they would like and then they pull out. The IPL says if you pull out, you get an automatic two-year-ban. It sounds like Harry Brook is the first player to do that but I understand why the IPL would do that. Every player would like more money but once you go into that auction and you're bought you've got to respect that and understand that you can't just pull out because you haven't been paid the amount that you want," Clarke said on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
DC will look to have a scintillating IPL 2025 campaign
DC will strive to be at their best under their new captain Axar Patel. The Capitals haven’t qualified for the playoffs after 2021 and under their new captain, they will be expected to be disciplined in all departments of the game. DC have quality players such as KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, Faf du Plessis, Tristan Stubbs, and Kuldeep Yadav in the squad.
Back in 2020, DC put up their best performance under Shreyas Iyer, after ending their journey as the runners-up after losing to Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 13th IPL final played at the iconic Dubai International Stadium.
