Shortly after it was confirmed that KL Rahul will be opening the batting for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, English opener Ben Duckett has pulled out of the tournament, which is slated to commence on March 28. Duckett has said that he has taken the decision to focus more on his international career, as he does not find himself in a great run of form.

Ahead of the IPL, Duckett played for the Three Lions in the Ashes against Australia. Playing Down Under, the left-handed batter had a hard time in the middle, managing only 202 runs across ten innings, averaging a mere 20.2 in a series where the Englishmen lost 4-1. England's summer will start in June with a Test series against New Zealand, and Duckett will eye being among the runs in the upcoming season.

Duckett conveyed the same via his official social media handle on Tuesday, March 24.

"I have made the extremely difficult decision to withdraw from the IPL. I have given this a lot of thought and it has not been an easy choice. Representing England is something I have dreamed of since I was a child, and I want to give everything I can to English cricket. To do that, I need to ensure I am in the best possible place physically and mentally ahead of the summer," Duckett wrote in a post on his Instagram account.

"I would like to sincerely apologise to everyone at Delhi. I was genuinely very excited about the opportunity to represent the franchise, and I fully appreciate the time and planning that goes into building a squad. I am sorry for any disruption my decision may cause. I would also like to apologise to all the fans as I know how much it means to everyone in Delhi," Duckett added.

DC, meanwhile, hasn't named a replacement for the cricketer yet. An announcement is expected soon, though.

Delhi Capitals' updated squad for IPL 2026

Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Tristan Stubbs, Auqib Nabi, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Rana (traded in), Pathum Nissanka, Abishek Porel, Ashutosh Sharma, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, Prithvi Shaw, Karun Nair, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Sahil Parakh, Vihaan Malhotra, Kyle Jamieson