BCCI was right in banning Harry Brook for IPL 2025 pullout, says Moeen Ali

England batter Harry Brook pulled out of the impending IPL season after getting picked by Delhi Capitals at the mega auction late last year. Had it been the previous season, he would have got away with this, which he did; but, with the IPL council laying strict penalties for anyone doing so if not injured or for unavoidable reasons, that player shall be banned for two years, which happened with Brook. His former teammate Moeen Ali agrees with BCCI for banning Brook.

“It’s not harsh. I kind of agree with it, in a way, because a lot of people do that,” Moeen Ali said on the podcast “Beard Before Cricket.”

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Brook pulled out of the cash-rich league for the second straight season to stay committed to his national duty with the England Team. While Delhi Capitals purchased him for INR 6.25 crore, last year’s runners-up, SunRisers Hyderabad, bagged Brook’s services for INR 4 crore ahead of IPL 2024.

Moeen noted how plenty of players have done it before for their reasons, adding it’s good that BCCI made a note of it by putting up a ban for up to two years. Moeen, who played for several IPL teams before, said when a player opts out at the last minute, he messes things up for the side that had, by then, prepared a chart on how to go about the season.

“A lot of people have done it in the past, and then they come back in, and they end up getting a better financial package, or whatever it is. And he kind of messes a lot of things up as well at the same time,” Moeen said. “I mean, it’s messed his team up, obviously, by pulling out. Any team that loses Harry Brook is messed up a bit, and they’ve got to now rejig everything and stuff like that.

“Forget him for a second, but if you do pull out, the rule is that you get a ban unless it’s for family reasons or… due to injury or something. If it’s injury or something, it’s different. But I think if you just pull out, then it’s… I kind of agree with the teams. You actually mess a lot of stuff up.

“He’s a top player. They’ve probably picked the team around him, and then all of a sudden, you’re pulling out,” Ali noted.

Not harsh

Echoing Moeen’s words, his former teammate and England international Adil Rashid spoke on the same lines, saying Brook knew from the beginning what the repercussions were, and since he did pull out despite knowing about them, BCCI’s call to ban Brook wasn’t harsh at all. 

“So, when you put your name in, you know if you pull out, this is going to happen. So, you know the consequences of it. So, I don’t think it’s harsh. 

“No, but if you pull out and you have, like you say, an injury or whatever, then I think that’s where something like the rules may differ or change in that way.

“Not just him (Harry Brook), but… But this has been going on for, I don’t know, for a little while, I reckon. Mo (Moeen Ali) has been in the IPL a lot longer, but in the past probably five, or ten years, a lot of players have been selected generally and have pulled out. So that’s why they’re trying to stop it that way,” Rashid added. 

(With inputs from agencies)