He had to toil hard to make it to the headlines again, following a plummet in form since 2023.
South African youngster Dewald Brevis has recently shattered the records at the SA20 2026 auction. The Pretoria Capitals roped him in for a massive R16.5 million (INR 8.31 crores), which made the 22-year-old the highest-paid player in SA20 history. But the journey to this feat was not as smooth as a cakewalk for the destructive batter, who is also famously known as the “Baby AB.”
Brevis had to toil hard to make it to the headlines again, following a plummet in form since 2023. The batter had a smashing start to his career with an astonishing campaign in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022. He notched up 506 runs in six matches, including two centuries and three fifty-plus scores, at an average of 84.33 to become the top run-scorer of the tournament.
This mesmerising show earned Brevis his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) deal for the five-time champions, Mumbai Indians (MI). The youngster also put up an impressive performance in his debut IPL season, scoring 161 runs in seven fixtures, at a strike rate of 142.48. Moreover, the franchise acquired the player for their SA20 team, MI Cape Town, in the T20 league’s inaugural edition.
But the batter only managed 235 runs in 10 matches at a sub-par strike rate of 117.50 in SA20 2023. His lean patch of form also continued in the Proteas outfit, as the player was dismissed for just five runs and a duck in his debut T20I series against Australia. Following this, Brevis also failed to earn a spot in the playing XI of MI in the IPL 2023. His strike rate in SA20 2024 improved to 140.18, but was coupled with only 150 runs in nine innings, at a below-par average of 18.75.
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After a persistent struggling period, which included 69 runs in three IPL 2024 matches at a below-par strike rate of 116.95, MI had released Brevis ahead of the coming player auction. The player, who was once named as a rising star, also went unsold in the IPL 2025 auction. But the prodigy regained his lost rhythm after a return to domestic cricket. He soon made a tremendous comeback in the SA20 2025, followed by an extraordinary season in the cash-rich league.
“The best thing that could ever have happened to Dewald Brevis is to play domestic cricket for almost two years. He struggled, he battled. Didn’t do all that well. All of a sudden, he’s released from Mumbai Indians, comes back all the way to domestic cricket where he found himself,” stated Allan Donald.
Notably, the 22-year-old joined MI’s arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as an injury replacement, after notching up 291 runs in 12 fixtures at a fierce strike rate of 184.17 in the latest SA20 edition. He also showcased a blistering form for the Men in Yellow to put up 225 runs in six appearances at a fiery strike rate of 180.
“He had to go back and find his game. The pressure and expectation maybe just got the better of him. He came back to domestic cricket and all of a sudden, he gets a lucky break. He gets a break from Chennai Super Kings, goes over there and just lit the world up,” added the former Proteas pacer.
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