Michael Vaughan has revealed that Delhi Capitals wanted to sign Ben Duckett as a replacement for Harry Brook, who pulled out of IPL 2025, but the English opener rejected the offer. Capitals signed Brook for Rs 6.25 crore in the 2025 mega auction. However, before the start of the season, he posted on social media that he had made the ‘difficult’ decision to pull-out because he needed ‘time to recharge after the busiest period in my career to date’ and focus on his international career. “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. Brook is being seen as the frontrunner to replace Jos Buttler as England’s white-ball captain. Duckett would have been a decent replacement, considering his 205-matches-long T20 career encompassing 5159 runs with 33 fifties at a strike rate of 140.38. However, given he’s an opener by trade (Brook can bat in the middle order), he would have had to compete with Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk for the top two spots. Vaughan also felt that Brook would have been better off by choosing to play in the league. “I actually look at Harry Brook’s game and I’m not too sure what’s going on away from the game,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz. “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. “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,” continued Vaughan. “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.” Stay updated with all the latest news on IPL 2025, including the schedule, points table, top run-scorers (IPL Orange Cap), and leading wicket-takers (IPL Purple Cap). Get real-time updates, match highlights, and expert insights—only on News18.