Follow UsChristened as ‘Baby AB’ in age-group cricket itself, Dewald Brevis always had the challenge of living up to his title. The youngster did that and much more in the second T20I between South Africa and Australia when he smashed a century in just 41 deliveries, becoming the second fastest Proteas batter to a T20I ton, and the youngest one to reach the three-figure mark in the shortest format.
The man he was christened after, AB de Villiers, took to Twitter (now known as ‘X’) to express his sheer bewilderment at the brilliance of that knock. He also wondered why none of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams showed interest in Brevis at the auction, and he only became part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) later in the season when he replaced the injured Gurjapneet Singh.
“There was such a golden opportunity for IPL teams to pick up Dewald Brevis at the auction! Missed out badly. CSK either got very lucky, or maybe the biggest master stroke ever The boy can play @BrevisDewald,” de Villiers wrote in his post.
He also added that he was shocked to see that it took the IPL teams so long to get him into the competition, and in the end, it became possible only due to an injury replacement. Brevis scored 225 runs in just six games for CSK this season at an average of 37.5 and a strike rate of 180.
“Mind boggling that he wasn’t picked up at all! To think that he came in as an injury sub,” de Villiers added.
Notably, de Villiers is the only Proteas batter to have scored a T20I ton faster than Brevis.