England’s legspin-bowling allrounder Rehan Ahmed is set to replace his compatriot Ben Duckett at Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026.
This will be Rehan’s first IPL stint and he will strengthen DC’s spin attack that already includes captain Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Vipraj Nigam and offspinner Tripurana Vijay, who is also uncapped in the IPL.
Last month, Duckett had pulled out of his IPL deal in a bid to rediscover his form and save his Test career after a poor Ashes series. Duckett’s last-minute withdrawal is expected to earn him a two-year ban from the IPL as per the league rules. Duckett’s England team-mate Harry Brook is serving a similar ban after withdrawing from his deal, also with DC, shortly before the start of the 2025 season.
Rehan recently impressed in the T20 World Cup: his 2 for 28 and crucial cameo of 19 not out off seven balls from No. 8 helped England beat New Zealand on a challenging Premadasa pitch. The 21-year-old has picked up 23 wickets in 25 innings in the Hundred at an economy rate of 7.68. Apart from the Hundred, Rehan has also played in the Big Bash League in Australia and the ILT20 in the UAE.
In all, Rehan has played 97 T20s so far, taking 85 wickets at an economy rate of 8.13 to go with 1071 runs at a strike rate of just under 126.
Former Punjab allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary, who now plays domestic cricket for Australia, is training with the DC squad as a reserve.
