He revealed how Delhi Capitals can cope with the absence of Harry Brook in IPL 2025.
Mike Hesson, former head coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), believes that the absence of England’s Harry Brook opens up a window of opportunity for the Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of IPL 2025. According to Hesson, he would play KL Rahul at number four in the Delhi Capitals batting lineup while South Africa’s Faf du Plessis bats in the top-order.
Why is Harry Brook’s absence a blessing in disguise?
“Instead of batting KL at the top, I would move KL from there; I would put him in the middle order at 4, and we’ve seen how well KL Rahul has done for India in the Champions Trophy. So, we know that he can start against spin, we know he’s got power at the back end, and he just adds a whole heap more power to this middle order. That allows you to bring in Faf du Plessis at the top, a guy who has absolutely dominated the IPL for the last five, six, seven, eight years. His numbers are incredible,” Hesson said while previewing Delhi Capitals on his YouTube channel.
The former New Zealand coach also noted Faf du Plessis’ excellent IPL record. “As I said, 730 runs, average of 56, strike rate of 153 two years ago; last year, strike rate of 161. I think if he was to sit on the sideline, that would be a big miss for DC if they were to bring in another player to replace Harry Brook. So, for me, it also reinvigorates KL Rahul,” he added.
Image credit: Mike Hesson YouTube
“It says to me, you haven’t been part of a winning IPL team yet, you are a fabulous cricketer, you’ve spent a lot of time batting at the top, we know you can do that, but DC would love to have you in the middle order to control all of these slightly less experienced but big-power and exciting players. And I think that lineup, with the loss of Harry Brook, is a very exciting one,” he continued.
Why Brook pulled out of IPL 2025
Harry Brook pulled out of the IPL for a second year running, with the batter saying that he wants to focus on playing for England. Last year, Brook had pulled out of the IPL following the death of his grandmother. As a result, Brook has been banned from the IPL for two years with the BCCI introducing new rules for players who pull out of the IPL after being acquired by a franchise. The Delhi Capitals had acquired Brook for INR 6.25 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2025 campaign with a “home game” against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Visakhapatnam on March 24.
DC playing XI according to Mike Hesson: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Axar Patel (Captain), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan.
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