He has been nicknamed ‘Baby AB’ for the remarkable similarity in his batting with South African legend AB de Villiers, but Under 19 star Dewald Brevis knows comparison is a double-edged sword and will have its own identity and style of play.
The 18-year-old was recently picked by Mumbai Indians for IPL 2022 through a mega auction after he shot to global fame during the 2022 U19 World Cup where Brevis scored 506 runs – the tournament’s top-scoring. Most in a single version of. Dhawan’s 505 in 2004 – and took seven wickets with his part-time leg-spin.
Now focusing on him, Brevis wants to take the best out of ABD and his idol Sachin Tendulkar to develop his style of batting.
One of the things he wants to do despite his rising fame as a batsman for the future is to remain humble like Tendulkar and de Villiers.
Brevis idolizes the growing up Tendulkar and wants to apply many things from the Mumbai legend’s batting to his game. Being with Mumbai Indians gives him an opportunity to interact with Tendulkar and learn from him that Tendulkar is the mentor of the team.
“The way he played was always an inspiration to me. My favorite innings of his is the ODI double century, which happened against South Africa! I remember watching the match with my brother – it was an amazing innings,” Brevis said in an exclusive conversation with the five-time IPL champion’s official website mumbaiindians.com.
“I read his autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’ and there are a lot of things from there that I want to implement in my game. One thing I learned from him is that you have to be humble because pride can be your downfall.
Coming to comparisons with de Villiers due to his wide-open stance, half-crouch and crisp shots, Brevis is candid about what he thinks about it.
“It is an honor to be compared to him, but it is important for me to have my own identity. I want to be known as Devald Brevis.”
Like any South African kid who dreams of becoming a cricketer, ABD is an inspiration to Brevis and while many of us can only imagine what it must be like to meet our heroes, the young Protea gets the opportunity to actually meet them. met.
“We went to the same school and played under the same coach, so when I first met him, I couldn’t hear a word. There were so many things I wanted to ask him but I was starstruck,” he remembered.
Since then, ABD has visited Brevis’ home and trained together and the now-retired supporter has become somewhat of a mentor to Brevis, the report said.
“I would say he’s great at learning – he makes time for you and that’s something I really appreciate. I mean, he’s AB de Villiers and he may be a very different guy but he’s very humble I am planning to ask him about his knowledge about IPL very soon.
‘Getting selected by MI gives me a lot of confidence’
Getting picked for the IPL was a bit unexpected for the teenager and says being picked by Mumbai Indians gives him a lot of confidence.
“I didn’t expect it at all. I was playing for Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge during the auction and my name came up in the middle of the game. I remember Quinton de Kock asking me to come on TV That was what’s happening,” Brevis said.
“My parents were also really excited. They started crying in that whole excitement because, as a family, we follow IPL and MI. My first memory of playing cricket was in our backyard and there’ IPL games ‘ To actually playing for MI is a dream come true. It gives me a lot of confidence to be picked by the most successful IPL team and motivates me to add another trophy to that cabinet.”
The teenager has also slowly built up her knowledge of MI in recent months.
“MI has always been one of my favorite teams. We were isolated before the U19 World Cup and I watched the Netflix documentary ‘Cricket Fever’. I can understand that family feeling and how the players are one big family.”
And Brevis is also looking forward to chatting with some of the many stars of Mi Squad.
“I would love to share the dressing room with Rohit Sharma. He is an amazing batsman, smokes bowlers and I have seen him rise through the ranks over the years. I am grateful that both Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah are in the team. I think facing Bumrah will be difficult, I have seen him bowl live for India against South Africa at SuperSport Park (at Centurion) and it is true that I will be facing him in the nets soon,” Brevis concluded. Removed.
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