The newly appointed England white-ball captain Harry Brook has said that he decided to step back from franchise cricket, as he aims for a comeback into his new leadership role.
Harry Brook who was bought by Delhi Capitals for INR 6.25 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction withdrew from the season to focus on his national commitments.
This marks the second consecutive year he pulled out of the IPL, and has been banned for two years in the tournament due to new regulations.
“That’s the rules, so if I do get banned, fair play,” said Harry Brook. “I’m completely committed to playing cricket for England. If that means franchise [cricket] takes a step back for a little while, so be it.
“I just want to play cricket for England, represent my country like I have done over the last few years and hopefully have a big impact on the side moving forward.”
Harry Brook’s hectice calendar as an all-format England player has been flagged as a long-term concern and it’s also a key reason behin his decision to put franchise cricket on hold for now.
“Missing the odd series wouldn’t be a stupid thing,” Brook said. “It’s a lot of cricket, and I’m looking forward to all of it,” he further said, alluding to the Ashes in Australia, a T20 World Cup in India in 2026 to go with other bilateral series.
“I’m going to be myself, as much as I possibly can be,” Brook said. “Be relaxed, be calm, try to have a lot of fun and enjoy it. If you’re playing cricket for England, we’re all living that dream.”
“As a 10-year-old looking at yourself now, you’d be absolutely buzzing and over the moon. You’ve got to try to create that environment in the changing room and just remember that you’re doing a job a hell of a lot of people would want to be doing.”
Meanwhile, Harry Brook has also confirmed that Ben Stoes remains in consideration for the white-ball selection and that the door isn’t closed on Jonny Bairstow either.
“With the schedule, he’s not going to be available all the time,” Brook said of Stokes. “But he’s one of the best players in the world and we’d be stupid to turn a blind eye to him.”
“We’ve all seen that he can put the best bowlers in the world under pressure from their best balls and manipulate the field and score big runs. There’s no reason why he can’t get selected again,” Harry Brook concluded.
