Brevis was a clear positive for CSK in a miserable IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings’ campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 was a disaster. They began the season well by beating Mumbai Indians and immediately drove off the cliff as they succumbed to three straight defeats at their own fortress Chepauk followed by losing five matches in a row for the first time.
Rubbing salt into the wounds was their first defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home after 17 years. This led to their playing XI being changed for every single match, with their top-order in total disarray. Adding to their woes, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad suffered an elbow injury, which ruled him out of the season.
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MS Dhoni, CSK’s longest serving captain, had to reluctantly take over the leadership duties for the third time but there was little that could be done.
Head coach Stephen Fleming revealed the Dhoni was no longer capable of batting for 10 overs which further demoralised CSK fans as the team stayed rooted to the bottom of the table.
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Even though the overall form never really improved, CSK has two bright spots in a grim season. First with the arrivals of 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre in place of injured skipper Gaikwad and then Dewald Brevis, who shockingly went unsold in the IPL 2025 auction after two seasons with Mumbai Indians.
The 22-year-old blasted boundaries with ease, sent sixes sailing against the toughest bowlers in the league as he finished the season with a strike rate of 180 from the 225 runs he scored from six matches.
On Tuesday, Brevis got to his maiden T20I hundred as he scored an unbeaten 123 off 56 balls against Australia and broke three big records for South Africa in the process.
AB de Villiers then posted on X saying CSK signing Brevis was a probable ‘masterstroke’ and felt that the youngster going unsold in the auction was ‘mind boggling.’
However, CSK almost picked England batter Jonny Bairstow as the replacement for Gurjapneet Singh but went for Brevis despite rating him lower.
“He (Brevis) had seemed a suspect against spin in the first two seasons and the data of the player didn’t suggest anything special. But with Ruturaj Gaikwad out with an injury, we were lacking firepower up top and with no chance to make the play-offs, there was scope to experiment,” a source in CSK told Times Of India.
“Bairstow had experience, but by then we were ready to take a chance with young guns,” he added.
The source also said that Brevis got the chance after Fleming and Dhoni decided to ‘take a chance with Brevis,’ which turned out to be a great decision for the five-time champions’ future prospects.
Brevis has finished sixth highest run-scorer in SA20 2024-25 season for MI Cape Town and then finished second highest run-scorer in South Africa’s domestic List-A and First-Class tournaments before making his comeback into the national team.
