England's new white-ball captain, Harry Brook, made headlines after opting to skip the second successive season of the cash-rich Indian Premier League despite registering his name in the mega auction. Though he got away last season after citing personal reasons, the IPL and the BCCI banned him for two years after he decided against playing IPL 2025 for prioritising national duty.

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The Delhi Capitals (DC) purchased Brook at the mega auction late last year, only to see him opting out of the 18th edition already underway. 
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) replaced Buttler with Brook as England's ODI and T20I captain soon after, with the star batter setting his priority straight. But before he chalked out the plan to help England regain white-ball success, which they did under former skipper Eoin Morgan, Brook addressed the elephant in the room. 

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Since winning the ODI World Cup in 2019 and their second T20 world title three years later (in 2022), England's white-ball cricket fell flat. They got knocked out in the group stages of the 2023 ODI World Cup and lost to India in last year's T20 World Cup in the Americas. Even in the first showpiece event of the year - the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, England got kicked out in the first stage, enduring further embarrassment. The fans began picking on them following such performances, denting England's dressing room morale. 

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“I think we can relax a little bit more. There was a lot of pressure on us from the outside that we were letting come inside, and it affected certain players," Brook said in a chat with Sky Sports. "I would find myself coming across things I didn’t really want to see. As a group, we can try to keep the outside noise to a minimum."

England's captaincy, a proud moment

Following England's Champions Trophy first-round exit, Buttler stepped aside as the white-ball captain, leaving the spot vacant for several contenders, including Brook, to pounce on the chance. 

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"It's obviously a very proud moment for me and everyone who has played a part in my career, I'm looking forward to what is going to come in the future. It was all up in the air for a little while, as everyone knows, I found out last week.

"Keysy [Rob Key, managing director of England men's cricket] and Baz [Brendon McCullum, England's head coach] both rang me up and when they told me the news, I took it with open arms. I’m looking forward to what the future holds," Brook said. 

(With inputs from agencies)