Former South African skipper AB de Villiers has picked Dewald Brevis as the most impressive youngster after IPL 2026. AB showered praise on Brevis and wants the fans to be more patient with the youngster.
Brevis has certainly shown the skills to go a long way in his career. The right-hander had impressed one and all in IPL 2025, scoring 225 runs in six matches at an average of 37.50 and a blistering strike rate of 180 while playing for Chennai Super Kings.
Meanwhile, Brevis is also often compared with AB de Villiers and he is popularly known as ‘Baby AB’.
AB de Villiers said on his YouTube Channel, “I always say Dewald Brevis. I work a little bit with him in my off time. He’s still young, guys. I think a lot of people look at him like he’s almost past his best. He’s still early 20s. There’s a lot of cricket left for that young man.”
AB said that he played his best cricket when he was 28-32. The former right-hander flourished across all three formats of the game and delivered consistently for the Proteas as well as Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL.
“I told him, imagine you’re 30 years old, between 28 and 32, that’s when I peaked. He’s still a long way off that. You just become more experienced, you start understanding your game better, and he’s nowhere near that yet, and people are already sort of going, ‘We’re getting a little bit tired of him. He’s inconsistent.’ I was incredibly inconsistent when I was younger. So, I always say Dewald Brevis because I’m waiting for that. I know what’s coming,” he added.
Brevis recently scored 75 runs off 50 balls in the opening T20I against Namibia but his efforts went in vain as the Proteas suffered a shocking 18-run loss.
Meanwhile, AB urged South African team management to stop fooling around with Brevis’ batting position and give him a consistent run at number three in the white-ball formats, whereas backed him to bat at number four in the red-ball version.
“I hope that the coaches stop fooling him around. Bat him in the top order, stop putting him at five, and then he opens, then he bats at six, then he opens again, then he bats at three. In my opinion, he needs to bat No. 3 in T20s, three in ODIs, and four in Test match cricket. Pick him, put him there, keep him there. He’s going to win you a lot of cricket games.”
South Africa will next take on Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
