Ben Duckett has withdrawn from the 2026 Indian Premier League just days before the tournament was due to begin, choosing county cricket over a franchise contract in what is one of the more consequential career decisions made by an England batter in recent years.
The 31-year-old was signed by Delhi Capitals for INR 2 crore at the December auction and had never previously played in the IPL. Despite that, and despite the obvious financial and professional appeal of the competition, he concluded that the path back to his best runs through Trent Bridge, not India.
The Form Problem That Forced His Hand
Duckett’s decision did not come out of nowhere. He was regarded as one of the world’s leading all-format openers after England’s drawn Test series against India last summer, but his form collapsed sharply from that point. He managed just a single half-century across 28 domestic and international innings in all formats from the start of the Hundred last August.
The Ashes series in Australia was particularly damaging. Duckett scored 202 runs in ten Test innings during England’s 4-1 defeat, managing a top score of just 42. He struggled against Mitchell Starc throughout the series and never found the fluency that had made him so effective against India.
What followed the Ashes was no better. He served as England’s spare batter through the entire T20 World Cup without making a single appearance in the tournament. That sequence of events, spanning several months and multiple formats, left him needing a reset rather than another assignment abroad.
Duckett himself acknowledged the scale of the contrast in his standing. “Going from how I was being spoken about during the India series, to how I am spoken about now. That’s a ridiculously big dip,” he said.
Why He Chose County Cricket
Duckett’s reasoning was straightforward. Playing for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship gives him the red-ball match practice he needs ahead of England’s home summer, without the uncertainty of being a substitute in a franchise squad. He cited his physical and mental readiness as the central factors behind the call, stating that representing England had been a childhood ambition and that he needed to be in the best possible place ahead of the summer.
He was also frank about the risk of going to the IPL under his current circumstances. He acknowledged that he could have gone, sat on the sidelines, then rushed back for the Test summer without having had the time to process the winter, learn from his mistakes, or work through things with Nottinghamshire.
England are scheduled to begin their home summer with a Test series against New Zealand in early June, making preparation in the domestic circuit significant for players who want to secure their place in the side. Duckett intends to use the County Championship weeks to rebuild his technique and confidence, working with Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores and ECB strength and conditioning coach Peter Sim.
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The IPL Ban He Accepted
The decision comes at a cost. Under IPL regulations, players who withdraw after being picked at auction without a valid injury or medical reason face suspension from participating in the next two auctions. The BCCI introduced this rule in 2024 specifically to deter late withdrawals, and Duckett will now be banned from the 2027 and 2028 editions of the tournament. That means he will not be eligible for an IPL auction until 2029, by which time he will be 33 years old.
Duckett’s England teammate Harry Brook faced the same consequence after withdrawing from his own deal with Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2025 season. Duckett is therefore the second Englishman in successive years to choose Test cricket over the IPL and face a resulting ban from the competition.
The financial implications are also real. Reports across outlets have placed the value of his contract between £159,000 and £200,000, all of which he forfeits by pulling out. Despite that, Duckett said the decision was made on his own accord and that he had no regrets about the direction he was taking.
Delhi Capitals Left Searching for Cover
Delhi had not announced a replacement as of the time of writing, though the franchise has options at the top of the order including Sri Lankan batter Pathum Nissanka, who had been competing with Duckett for an overseas spot anyway.
Prithvi Shaw and Sahil Parikh were also identified as potential candidates for the opening role alongside KL Rahul. For Delhi, it is a familiar situation. Losing an overseas player to a last-minute withdrawal, particularly an opener, disrupts squad planning and forces the team management to reconfigure its balance just as the season gets going. The franchise will nonetheless manage, given the depth of players available.
What Comes Next for Duckett
Duckett issued a public apology to Delhi Capitals, acknowledging the time and planning that goes into building a squad and expressing genuine regret at the disruption his withdrawal had caused. He was also required to address the video that emerged during the Ashes mid-series break at Noosa, in which he appeared visibly intoxicated before the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
“I am sorry for that incident. It was not professional and shouldn’t have happened. There is no hiding away from it,” he said.
That incident sat within a broader conversation about professionalism in the England camp during the Ashes, and the ECB has since indicated a sharper focus on conduct standards going forward. Duckett’s willingness to address it publicly, rather than avoid the subject, was a notable part of how he has handled this period.
He acknowledged that being sidelined during the T20 World Cup after the Ashes had been a struggle, but said it had lit a fire in him going forward. His stated goal is to be in the best physical condition of his career by the time New Zealand arrive in England in June.
Whether that ambition translates into a recall to the Test XI will depend on what he produces for Nottinghamshire and on the decisions made by the England selectors, who are also weighing the futures of other top-order batters. Duckett, for his part, has made his priorities clear in the most concrete way possible: by walking away from the most lucrative T20 competition in the world in order to chase a spot in red flannels.
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