Can CSK retain Dewald Brevis after his impressive performance in 2025?

Dewald Brevis in 2025

As the year 2025 has progressed, Dewald Brevis has gone on to greater heights. It is his strike rate that has increased by leaps and bounds thanks to his constant boundary-hitting abilities. 

CSA One-Day Challenge

His season started with the CSA One-Day Challenge (50 overs), where the right-handed batter scored 398 runs in only eight games for the Titans. Unfortunately for Brevis, these performances came after the IPL 2025 auction, where he had remained unsold. 

SA20

In the SA20, while playing for the MI Cape Town, Brevis continued to build up on his fine start to the season as he scored 291 runs in 12 games at a strike rate of 184.17. What impressed fans and experts around the world was his ability to hit sixes at will. The 22-year-old smashed 25 sixes in the tournament while hitting 17 fours. He was the sixth-highest run-scorer in the tournament; however, no batter managed to score even 15 runs at a better strike rate than him. Even though Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton scored more runs than him, it was Brevis who played a crucial role in helping MICT win their first SA20 title. 

IPL

In the IPL, Brevis came as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh. From the moment, the South African joined Chennai Super Kings, there was an evident change in how the batting unit performed. He was the impetus that very much needed in the batting unit for the five-time champions. In his first game for CSK, Brevis scored 42 runs off 25 ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, despite his aggressive batting display, SRH defeated the Super Kings by five wickets. 

Barring the game against RCB at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Brevis was dismissed for a golden duck, he was a great addition to the side. He scored a half-century in the very next game against the Kolkata Knight Riders helping CSK register a win by two wickets. Brevis continued to fire for the Super Kings scoring 42 in 25 balls in a loss against the Rajasthan Royals. In his final game of the season, the right-handed batter scored 57 in only 23 balls against the Gujarat Titans and ended up being named the player of the match for his efforts. He ended the season with some great scores next to his name and a great deal of confidence heading into the next season.

Vitality Blast

Thanks to his heroics at the Indian Premier League, Brevis earned a deal with Hampshire in the Vitality Blast. He continued his fine form in England and scored 166 runs in six innings he batted. It was his first time playing in the Vitality Blast, and his performance for Hampshire ensured that he will be a sought after commodity in years to come. What made his stint for Hampshire so successful was his ability to hit sixes. Among the 23 boundaries he hit in the six games, 17 were sixes. 

International Cricket

Thanks to the retirement of Heinrich Klaasen, Dewald Brevis has now got a chance to become a permanent fixture in the South African batting lineup. He took the opportunity to make a name himself on the international circuit as well. Since his return to the T20I setup, Brevis has been dismissed for a score of less than 30 twice in seven innings. He has maintained an average of more than 50 while scoring 260 runs. 

His best performance came against Australia in the second T20I at Darwin. Brevis scored an unbeaten 125 runs which was the highest score for a South African batter in T20Is. His century came off only 41 balls which was the second-fastest T20I ton by a South African batter. 

Brevis Gets Rid of Baby AB tag?

After his record-breaking century, Dewald Brevis made a vow to the fans that he will be original rather than Baby AB, like he is fondly called. Since his U-19 days the comparison to former South African batter, AB de Villiers has followed Brevis every where. Thanks to his ability to hit the ball in every corner of the ground like de Villiers, he got the tag of ‘Baby AB’. With his century against Australia, Brevis has now scored a T20I century something which the great ABD could also not manage in his illustrious career for the Proteas. 

Can CSK retain Dewald Brevis?

Chennai Super Kings after having a disastrous time at the IPL 2025 auction were thankfully saved by some remarkable replacements they made. The five-time champions signed Brevis along with Ayush Mhatre and refined their batting by multiple folds. 

However, many fans are still in doubt whether the team from South will be able to retain Brevis for the next season or not. In the case of an injury replacement, the IPL team is allowed to retain a player along with the player, he replaced. For instance, in this case, CSK would be allowed to retain Brevis along with Gurjapneet Singh if they wish to do so ahead of IPL 2026. 

With IPL 2025 getting suspended for a week, there were some temporary replacements made by IPL teams. These teams will not be able to retain their temporary replacements. For instance, Jonny Bairstow joined Mumbai Indians as a temporary replacement and will not be retained by the franchise. 

Ravichandran Ashwin reveals CSK paying extra to Dewald Brevis

Ravichandran Ashwin has dropped a bombshell, alleging that his IPL team, Chennai Super Kings, paid extra money to sign Dewald Brevis. The former Indian all-rounder, in a video on his YouTube channel, talked about how the South African batter asked for extra money, which he was duly paid by the franchise. 

Brevis had a base price of ₹75 lakhs, and multiple franchises that were in contact with him were ready to pay him that amount. However, Brevis and his agents realised that he would get a larger amount next season at the mini auction and negotiated for extra salary. The other teams were reluctant to pay any extra money rather than his base price.

CSK, on the other hand, readily paid the amount asked by the batter and his agent. Ashwin believes it was a great move from the five-time champions as they have not got themselves a “crown jewel”. Apart from Brevis, CSK also signed Ayush Mhatre in the middle of the season and reaped the rewards. 

Did CSK flout any rules while doing so?

Following the comments made by Ravichandran Ashwin there is a lot of debate whether CSK flouted any rules while signing Dewald Brevis. The official rule says that an injury replacement player must be paid a minimum amount of his base price. In Brevis’ case it was ₹75 lakhs. The maximum amount, the injury replacement can be signed for is the price of the player they have replaced. In this case it was Gurjapneet Singh with ₹2.2 crores. 

Joining in the middle of the season the injury replacement is paid their salary on a pro-rate basis. For instance, Brevis joined the Super Kings after seven games so his salary would have ranged anywhere between ₹37.5 lakhs and ₹1.1 crores. There has not been any official word or statement from CSK about the amount they paid to Brevis so there is a probability that the five-time champions did not break any rules while signing Brevis.