Actions have – must have – consequences. Unpleasant actions must therefore have unpleasant – for the actor concerned, that is – consequences. Hence the two-year ban slapped on Harry Brook, the England batter who pulled out of Season 18 of the Indian Premier League a little over a week back, citing the need to ‘recharge after the busiest period in my career to date’ as he prepares for his country’s upcoming assignments.
This isn’t the first time Brook is pulling out of the tournament. He had done so last year too following the demise of his grandmother, which had also compelled him to withdraw from the preceding five-Test series in India between January and March. Brook had been with Delhi Capitals last season and despite his unavailability for IPL 2024, the franchise plumped for him again during the November auction in Jeddah, shelling out ₹6.25 crore for his services.
The right-hander has featured in the IPL once, in the 2023 season when he represented Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite a frenzied start to the tournament – a 55-ball 100 not against Kolkata Knight Riders – he had a season to forget, finishing with 190 runs in 11 games at a modest average of 22.11. At the time, Hemang Badani was in the coaching group at SRH. Last October, Badani was appointed the head coach of Delhi Capitals and surely, he must have liked what he’d seen of Brook to want to have his services in his first stint as the head coach of the IPL team.
Going all out
That Brook is a fabulous stroke-maker is hardly a secret. He averages 58.48 in 24 Tests with 317 against Pakistan five months back as the highest of his eight hundreds. He scores his Test runs at an astonishing 88.37 runs per 100 balls faced and so it is no surprise that his strike-rate across 149 T20s (domestic and international combined) is 149.95. He also averages 32.84 and boasts three centuries, marking him out as a special talent who is versatile across formats (his ODI numbers in 26 games are average 34, strike-rate 100.74). Clearly, Delhi and Badani knew what they wanted and left no stone unturned in going after him during the auction.
There was a vacuum at various levels in one of the eight original franchises (when the team was called Delhi Daredevils), with Rishabh Pant moving on and head coach Ricky Ponting parting ways amicably before taking up a similar role at Punjab Kings. Pant, the captain last year on his return from injury, was snapped up for an IPL record ₹27 crore by Lucknow Super Giants, so DC needed a new captain though Brook wasn’t realistically in the running for that position, given the propensity of most IPL teams to invest in an Indian (eventually, Axar Patel was named the skipper last week, after K.L. Rahul turned down the offer).
But while Brook may not have been perceived as potential captaincy material, it was clear that the larger backroom decision-making group of Badani and fellow former India internationals Y. Venugopala Rao and Munaf Patel, among others, had had a big role in mind for the 26-year-old with vast experience (Brook made his First Class debut nearly nine years ago). Capable of dictating the outcome of a T20 game in a matter of a few balls, his clean and crisp ball-striking was too tempting to overlook, and he also would have been expected to contribute in a leadership capacity to whoever the next designated skipper would be.
In one fell swoop, Brook has chopped down all those aspirations. There was sympathy, empathy and understanding when he cried off from IPL 2024, but this time, he has triggered anger, if not outrage, both because of the reason he has proffered and the timing of his withdrawal, just three weeks before the start of the competition.
For Brook to put England first is perfectly fine, understandable, laudable even. But only if the circumstances had been different. He could so easily have not entered the auction fray at all, citing his commitment to the national cause and watched the exciting developments in Saudi Arabia with detached attachment. Instead, by throwing his hat in the ring, being snapped up for a not-inconsiderable amount and then waiting for more than three months before informing the England and Wales Cricket Board, and through them the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Delhi Capitals management that he wouldn’t turn up, he has sold himself and the franchise short.
Left high and dry
From a DC perspective, the hunt for a replacement at this late stage will be frustrating. Their plans have all gone awry and there really aren’t too many like-for-like replacements for someone of Brook’s calibre. It’s a point not lost on either Moeen Ali or Adil Rashid, who have both been vocal in their condemnation of Brook’s decision. Treated shabbily more than once by the England establishment, Moeen blossomed at Chennai Super Kings under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Now retired from international cricket, he is unafraid to voice his thoughts openly. Rashid, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely. The leg-spinner is an active international whose forays into the IPL have been practically non-existent; he played one game for SRH in 2021 and has been roped in this season by Punjab as an injury replacement for Jhye Richardson.
“They actually put that rule in place before, and then this happened,” Rashid said of a rule that came into effect after the last season, where overseas players who pulled out for reasons other than injuries would cop a two-year ban. “So, when you put your name in, you know the consequences of withdrawing.” The ace leggie also agreed that players should be held accountable for voluntary withdrawals.
The rule that Rashid was referring to was necessitated by a spate of withdrawals, without accountability, in seasons gone by. There was a spate of mid-tournament pullouts from IPL 2021 but in a way, that was understandable because the second wave of the pandemic was raging and many players feared that if their countries shut their borders, they wouldn’t be able to go home for months together. But that apart, there have been worrying and infuriating pullouts for no justifiable reason.
Because there was no official censure or sanction, the franchises were left to fume and wring their hands in helplessness but with saner counsel now having prevailed and punishments in place for ‘unforced’ no-shows, Brook should have known that he was swimming in dangerous waters.
Brook will now stand out as an example. Maybe there will be an informal conversation surrounding his future in other global T20 franchise-driven tournaments with an IPL ownership presence.
The BCCI, the IPL governing council or the franchises can’t tell the South African board, for instance, or those running Major League Cricket in the United States, to extend the BCCI/IPL sanction to these tournaments too. But who knows, perhaps they might get together and decide to steer clear of offenders like Brook, whose word and signature on the dotted line clearly mean little to him.
It’s likely that not too long into the future, England will name Brook as their One-Day International captain, maybe even their all-format white-ball skipper. Jos Buttler quit the ODI captaincy after an abortive Champions Trophy campaign. It was the second global 50-over competition where England had failed to advance from the first stage under Buttler’s leadership and with his own bat also going cold, he perhaps had no option to quit before he has sacked. Brook has emerged the early and overwhelming favourite to take charge of the ODI team, at the very least. Who knows, he might have a long memory and Rashid’s words will have consequences of their own, though it will be unfair and presumptuous to state with conviction that Brook will hold that against his 37-year-old colleague.
The English, more than those from other countries, have been most culpable of not honouring their IPL commitments in their entirety for one reason or the other. Last year, for instance, Buttler himself, Phil Salt and Will Jacks were withdrawn by the ECB ahead of the playoffs so that they could play in a four-match Twenty20 International series at home against Pakistan, their final 20-over outings before the T20 World Cup in the Americas where England were soundly hammered in the semifinals by Rohit Sharma’s men.
Buttler had been the key man for Rajasthan Royals alongside Sanju Samson, Salt and Sunil Narine had struck up a terrific opening partnership at (eventual champions) Kolkata Knight Riders and Jacks thrived under Faf du Plessis – and alongside Virat Kohli – as Royal Challengers Bengaluru embarked on a stirring late run that took them from the bottom of the table to a top-four finish. The ECB decision was condemned by even Michael Vaughan, the former captain in whose eyes anything associated with India is largely unacceptable.
For now, Brook can watch this, and the next two editions of the IPL, on television. He will not admit it, but there will be the disappointment of missing out – clearly, there is no FOMO – on turning his back on the adrenaline rush that is a unique and constant feature of this most electric experience. He can regret at leisure, reflecting on going into the history books for all the wrong reasons by becoming the first man to be officially banned from the IPL for a non-injury-driven withdrawal. The message has gone out loud and clear – ignore your commitments at your own peril. It’s a lesson the others will do well to heed, because, as we said, actions have consequences.
Published – March 18, 2025 12:03 am IST