Why Dewald Brevis is called Baby AB: The uncapped South African batter hit four consecutive sixes in Indian Premier League 2022.
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During the 23rd match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings in Pune, Mumbai Indians batter Dewald Brevis announced his presence in the biggest T20 tournament in the world.
Playing his third IPL match, Brevis scored a game-changing 49 (25) with the help of four fours and five sixes whilst chasing a 199-run target. While Brevis had scored an eye-catching 29 (19) against Kolkata Knight Riders and dismissed Virat Kohli against Royal Challengers Bangalore, him hitting Kings spinner Rahul Chahar for four consecutive sixes will be remembered as his claim to fame moment in the IPL.
Once again promoted to No. 3 in the batting order, Brevis took as many as eight deliveries before scoring his first run. It was in the last over of the powerplay when the right-handed batter hit back-to-back boundaries off Punjab pacer Arshdeep Singh.
In the next over, Brevis welcomed all-rounder Odean Smith into the attack by pulling him for a six. However, it was Brevis introducing Chahar into the attack which saw Mumbai collecting 29 runs in the ninth over.
kids these days 😳#MIvPBKS #IPL2022
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 13, 2022
Having targeted the long-on region, Brevis was successful enough to smash all the deliveries for towering sixes at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium tonight. Chahar, who is otherwise an astute operator, appeared to be short of answers against an 18-year old player.
Why Dewald Brevis is called Baby AB?
A primary reason why Brevis is called “Baby AB” or often compared to former South Africa captain AB de Villiers while batting is his first-rate ability to hit innovative big shots like the latter.
Wearing the same jersey as de Villiers in addition to belonging to the same school where de Villiers had studied back in the day, there are valid reasons why fans consider him as the next de Villiers.
However, it is worth a mention that Brevis and de Villiers aren’t related by any means. de Villiers and wife Danielle de Villiers have two sons and a daughter but each one of them is quite young to play competitive cricket.
Highest run-scorer in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in West Indies earlier this year after amassing 506 runs at an average and strike rate of 84.33 and 90.19 respectively, Brevis had scored most half-centuries (3), most hundreds (2), most fours (45) and most sixes (18) to win the Man of the Series award.
Other than his record in junior cricket, if Brevis continues to play in the manner that he did tonight, comparisons with de Villiers will only grow with time.
