Is Dewald Brevis the Future Successor to AB de Villiers?

When it comes to the Proteas players who have been loved by the Indian fans, AB de Villiers is a name which every fan would have in their mind. Whether he was playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL or representing his country while the team played in India, the amount of love he received from the fans was unmatched.

In the South Africa tour of India 2015, the 5th ODI match was scheduled at the Wankhede Stadium. The match had various great players such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, and many more. But the crowd was excited for just one player, and it was none other than the Alien, AB de Villiers.

Later in 2018, AB de Villiers announced his retirement from the international format, and went on to retire even from the IPL after the 2021 season. After his retirement, fans thought they might not find any other Proteas batsman similar to him, playing impressive shots all around the ground, and even receiving immense support wherever he goes to perform.

Tournament	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s
IPL 2025 (CSK)	6	225	37.50	180.00	0	2
Tests vs Zimbabwe	3	84	28.00	98.82	0	1
T20I vs Australia	3	180	90.00	204.54	1	1
ODI vs Australia	3	56	18.66	160.00	0	0
ODI vs England	3	54	27.00	158.82	0	0

But now it seems like a future successor for AB de Villiers has already been seen by the fans, in the form of Dewald Brevis. The year 2025 could be termed as the best year for Brevis so far, as his career has transformed to a great extent over the past six months. Let’s take a look at how the paths of AB de Villiers and Dewald Brevis have been the same, determining that Brevis is walking the right path.

IPL 2025

Dewald Brevis started off to dominate this year with his comeback in the IPL after two mediocre seasons. Chennai Super Kings, which struggled in the initial stages of the tournament, were later met with injury issues, which further intensified the team’s tensions. With the injury of Gurjapneet Singh, the team brought Dewald Brevis for 2.2 crore rupees as a replacement player.

With all the deals being done, Brevis finally started to practice for the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the team’s upcoming matches. Even the fans who had watched him perform previously in the domestic matches marked him as Baby AB, showcasing their love towards not just AB de Villiers but also to the youngster Dewald Brevis.

Playing just 6 matches for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 season, he finished the campaign with 225 runs in 6 matches at an average of 37.50, with two half-centuries. One of the most astonishing aspects about his stats this season was his strike rate, which stood at 180. Brevis was not just known for scoring runs this season; he was known for smashing the finest bowlers in the IPL.

Brevis scored his maiden IPL fifty in the match against the Gujarat Titans, where Chennai decided to bat first. Coming down at number 5, he went on to unleash the madness of an aggressive striker, scoring 57 runs off 23 balls, with 4 fours and 5 sixes. This helped Chennai to reach a good total, as the bowlers were able to restrict the Gujarat Titans to help the team win by 83 runs.

His second IPL half-century came in the Chennai Super Kings last match of the season against the Kolkata Knight Riders. As the team was chasing down a massive target of 180 runs, Dewald Brevis scored 52 runs off just 25 balls, with 4 fours and 4 sixes, which played an important role in the chase for the Chennai Super Kings.

Test Debut

Following his success in the Indian Premier League, it was clear that Dewald Brevis is all set to take his steps to the international team. He had already made his debut in the T20I format in 2023, and his next debut came in the longest format of the game. After South Africa had won the World Test Championship final against Australia, the team went for two Test matches against Zimbabwe.

With the majority of their key players on a rest after the WTC final win, Dewald Brevis got his debut cap to represent the Proteas in the Whites. He ensured not to let the opportunity go away, and proved himself to be worthy of more opportunities. In the first Test, Brevis went on to score 51 runs off just 41 balls, with 3 fours and 4 sixes, as the Proteas went on to win the game by 238 runs.

It should also be noted that Dewald Brevis got his first Test wicket also in his debut match, where he previously scored a half-century in the first innings. Towards the last innings of the game, he was given the ball by the captain, and Brevis took the final wicket of Chivanga, to let the Proteas win the game.

During the second Test match, he also gave another consistent performance for the team, scoring 30 runs off 35 balls with 4 fours. His capability to rotate strikes and even score boundaries in the longest format of the game makes him the perfect batsman for the Proteas in place of retired AB de Villiers.

T20I Series Against Australia & ODI Debut

After the Test series against Zimbabwe, Dewald Brevis further went on to make his debut for the team in the ODI format, which came against Australia. But before that, both teams faced each other in a three-match T20I series. With the matches being played in Australia, Brevis announced his comeback with a roar in the T20I format.

In the first T20I match, he was not able to perform well, scoring just 2 runs off 6 balls. But in the second match, even the Australian team had no answers to him, as Brevis went on to score 125 runs off just 56 balls, with 12 fours and 8 sixes. This was his maiden century in the T20I format, and it also helped South Africa to win the game by a decent margin.

Later, in the series decider match too, Brevis played a crucial knock for the Proteas, scoring 53 runs off 26 balls, with just one four and 6 sixes. Although South Africa lost the match and series both, Brevis made his statement by scoring 180 runs in 3 matches at an average of 90, being the top run scorer in the series.

Following his success in the T20I format and Test format, he received his maiden call-up for the ODI format on the Australia tour. Brevis started off his ODI career with a six against Travis Head on his very first ball, marking his name among the few batsmen to have hit a six on the first ball of their debut. However, he went on to lose his wicket the very next delivery.

In the second ODI match too, Brevis was not able to prove himself, as he got out for just one run off five balls. However, Brevis showcased himself as a lone warrior for the Proteas in the final ODI match, when the team was chasing down a mammoth target of 432 runs. While chasing, all the other Proteas batsmen failed to perform well, but Brevis scored 49 runs off 28 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes, missing out on his maiden ODI half-century.

ODI Series Against England

After helping South Africa to establish its dominance on Australian soil, Dewald Brevis also got an opportunity to play for the team in the tour of England. With the first ODI match being at Leeds, England got all out at a low total, and Brevis came to finish the game with a six, scoring just 6 runs off 2 balls.

Later in the second ODI match, South Africa was sent to bat first, and this decision helped the team a lot. To boost the team’s scoring rate in the middle overs, Dewald Brevis stepped in at number 6 and scored 42 runs off just 20 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes, even with the match being at the tough conditions of the Lord’s. His short cameo played a crucial role for the Proteas to win the second match by 5 runs.

The third and final ODI of the series completely went in favour of England, as the team first scored 414, then went to bundle South Africa all out for a score of 72. In this also, Brevis was able to score just 6 runs off 12 balls, showcasing his promising intent. With the three-match T20I series also coming up, fans expect another thriller from Dewald Brevis.

SA20 Auction

Dewald Brevis surely made his name not just in South African cricket, but also in international cricket, with his performances not just being limited to his home country. He has given big scores to his team in India, Australia, and even England, which made him a player to go for in the SA20 auction.

Various top players participated in the auction of the tournament, which will commence within the next few months. All the teams had their eyes on Dewald Brevis, making them eager to spend big bucks to get the explosive batsman to their line-up for the upcoming season. As a result, Dewald Brevis was bought by Pretoria Capitals for a whopping total of R16.5 million, which is approximately 8,30,45,968 rupees.

This has not just helped Brevis to improve his brand value, but he also became the costliest player in the history of SA20, overtaking the greats such as Aiden Markram and many more. With a number of top players, such as James Anderson, being unsold, it comes as a huge achievement for Brevis to be the costliest player in the history of the tournament.