Chennai: As South African teen Dewald Brevis lit up Darwin with a 56-ball 125 not out to assist the Proteas draw stage within the T20 collection in opposition to Australia, AB de Villiers didn’t waste an excessive amount of time in arising with a cryptic tweet. “There was such a golden alternative for IPL groups to select up Dewald Brevis on the public sale! Missed out badly. CSK both obtained very fortunate or possibly the largest grasp stroke ever. The boy can play,” De Villiers wrote on X. CSK had one in all their worst IPL seasons in 2025, however the silver lining was buying ‘Child AB’, who has been an enormous hit within the T20 circuit the world over since then. CSK, although, didn’t have any plans of getting Brevis and it was a mixture of desperation, sensible pondering and “a little bit of fluke” that led the five-time champions roping him in after eight video games. “We had misplaced six of the primary eight video games and knew that our season was gone. And bear in mind, we didn’t get Brevis as a alternative for a batter. He got here in for medium-pacer Gurjapneet Singh,” a CSK supply instructed TOI. Brevis had performed a few seasons of IPL earlier than for Mumbai Indians and obtained solely 10 video games, doing nothing spectacular. He was launched by MI, a choice that they could find yourself regretting, however not one of the franchises confirmed any curiosity in him through the auctions.

“He had appeared a suspect in opposition to spin within the first two seasons and the info of the participant didn’t recommend something particular. However with Ruturaj Gaikwad out with an harm, we have been missing firepower up high and with no likelihood to make the play-offs, there was scope to experiment,” the supply mentioned. Even then, Brevis was not a straight-forward alternative and CSK had considered Jonny Bairstow, who had additionally gone unsold within the public sale. “Bairstow had expertise, however by then we have been able to take an opportunity with younger weapons,” the supply mentioned. It was coach Stephen Fleming’s suggestion “to take an opportunity with Brevis”. MS Dhoni, too, gave his nod banking on the youth issue and the 22-year-old got here in to turn into a right away success, scoring 42 off 25 balls in opposition to SRH in a low-scoring match on the MA Chidambaram Stadium. He adopted it up with a couple of glowing innings that scuppered the progress of groups like KKR and Gujarat Titans. Whereas Brevis has gone from power to power since then, culminating within the highest particular person innings rating by a South African in T20Is on Tuesday, the CSK administration nonetheless believes he isn’t a completed product. The assumption within the franchise is that the teen goes to get higher and CSK are prepared to present him a protracted rope in order that he can understand his potential and turn into one in all their courageous new faces.