England’s legspin-bowling allrounder Rehan Ahmed has replaced his compatriot Ben Duckett at Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026. He will join DC for INR 75 lakh (£59,000 approx).

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 has been playing for Leicestershire in the County Championship this month and is a potential contender to play in England’s Test series against New Zealand in June. But he has been granted a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by the ECB (he is centrally contracted) and travels to the IPL with a vote of confidence from Claude Henderson, his county director of cricket.

“We are absolutely delighted for Rehan and incredibly proud as a club to see him earn this opportunity,” Henderson said. “To see one of our own stepping onto one of the biggest stages in world cricket is a fantastic moment for us all. We’re excited to watch him go and express himself, and we’ll be right behind him every step of the way before welcoming him back to Leicester.”

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.

Rehan, 21, has also played in the T20 Blast, the Big Bash League in Australia and the ILT20 in the UAE. In all, he has played 97 career T20s, 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 in Australia, is training with the DC squad as a reserve.