Michael Vaughan has claimed that Delhi Capitals (DC) wanted to sign Ben Duckett as a replacement for Harry Brook, who opted out of IPL 2025 at the last moment, but the England opener declined the offer.

Brook was signed by DC for Rs 6.25 crore during the mega auction last November. However, he withdrew from his contract earlier this month, stressing that representing England remains his "priority and focus."

The Capitals, who opened their campaign with a thrilling one-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, are yet to announce a replacement for Brook.

“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.

Duckett would have been a decent replacement, considering his T20 numbers. In 205 matches, the southpaw has amassed 5159 runs at a strike rate of 140.38, including 33 half-centuries.

Vaughan also opined that Brook would have been better off by choosing to play in the cash-rich league.

“I actually look at Harry Brook’s game and I’m not too sure what’s going on away from the game. 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,” Vaughan said.

“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. 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,” he remarked.

In 2023, Harry Brook represented Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, scoring 190 runs at an average of 22.11 in 11 games, including a notable century against the Kolkata Knight Riders. He had pulled out of the IPL last year as he wanted to be with his family following the death of his grandmother.