Brevis emerges as key part of CSK's future plans

Only Nicholas Pooran and Suryakumar Yadav have a higher strike-rate than Dewald Brevis in the middle overs in IPL 2025 © BCCI/IPL
Chennai Super Kings' IPL 2025 continued to go downhill, as they slipped to their 10th defeat on Tuesday, their joint-most in an IPL edition. They are almost certain of their first-ever wooden-spoon finish. To avoid that, they'd need to beat table-toppers Gujarat Titans by 107 runs in their last league game, assuming they post 200 batting first. But that's not what the five-time champions would be aiming for. The bigger picture, in MS Dhoni's words, is trying to "find the answers for the next year".

CSK's woes this season started at the top with the bat, and have continued as the game progressed. They have comfortably been the worst batting side in the powerplay: 23.67 runs/wicket at 8.5 runs per over, in contrast to the overall tournament aggregate of 38.55 and 9.51 respectively. In the phases thereafter, Shivam Dube'sunderwhelming campaign hasn't helped, and while Ravindra Jadeja has got the runs, batting against spin still calls for a major improvement.

Amidst all the chaos, they have found spark in two young guns: Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis, who came in as late replacements (alongside Urvil Patel), and are now seemingly filling in the missing pieces. Mhatre and Urvil have struck eight sixes in 88 balls between them in the powerplay, 12 other CSK batters have seven in 384. As for middle-overs, Brevis has been the torch-bearer, and is perhaps meeting the expectations of the promise shown when he had first burst onto the scene, dubbed as "Baby AB".

In his first IPL 2025 outing, against SRH, he struck a stroke-filled 42, and CSK managed 40/6 in seven overs after his dismissal to be bundled out for 154. He played the second-fiddle to Sam Curran against PBKS, and it was his middle-overs onslaught against KKR, featuring a 30-run over off Vaibhav Arora, that helped CSK break their four-match losing streak. Against RR, CSK managed just 50 in 6.2 overs post his dismissal, well below-par on a flat-wicket aided by short boundaries.

Brevis has been striking at an impressive 170.10 in middle-overs this season. For context, he and Mhatre have collectively struck at 174.41 in this phase, the 12 other CSK batters have gone at 117.07. Ruturaj Gaikwad struck at 175 (63 off 36) against spin before being ruled out with injury, while Brevis has gone at 150 (81 off 54) so far. The 12 other CSK batters, who have faced at least 10 balls against spin, have averaged 19.25 at a strike-rate of 113.06.

Highest SR in Overs 7-15 in IPL 2025 (min. 75 balls faced)

Player Runs Balls Ave SR Dot% Bnd%
Nicholas Pooran 265 128 44.16 207.03 30.4 32.81
Suryakumar Yadav 377 214 75.4 176.16 24.2 26.63
Dewald Brevis 165 97 41.25 170.1 28.8 21.64
Prabhsimran Singh 153 90 25.5 170 26.6 25.55
Jos Buttler 317 190 105.66 166.84 25.7 24.21
2025 has been a year of marked progress for Brevis across formats. Back home, he totalled 573 runs at 47.75 with two hundreds in CSA Four-Day first-class tournament, and aggregated 398 runs at 66.33 (SR: 156.07) in the Provincial One Day Challenge. As for T20s, he was key to MI Cape Town's title win in SA20, with 291 runs at 48.50 (SR: 184.17).

Brevis in T20s (by year)

Year Inns Runs Avg SR
2021 2 62 31 167.56
2022 30 758 27.07 149.5
2023 12 240 21.81 115.94
2024 22 436 20.76 134.56
2025 15 459 41.72 176.53
CSK would've ideally needed this lift earlier in the competition to remain in the hunt, but instances of replacements catalysing a dramatic turnaround in the IPL have been rare, like they discovered with Doug Bollinger in 2010, and RCB with Chris Gayle in 2011. However, they could still seek inspiration from the recent past. Late into their dismal 2020 campaign, they had Gaikwad shining: a worthy successor to Shane Watson to partner Faf du Plessis in 2021. After Dwayne Bravo's final appearance in 2022, they had Matheesha Pathirana to star in their fifth title win in 2023.

Brevis' ascendancy however, alongside Mhatre, Noor Ahmad and Khaleel's exploits, perhaps hint at a need for a proper balance between the wealth of experience and the exuberance of youth. Dubbed as the "Dad's Army", CSK lifted the title on their return in 2018, the average age of their XI in the final being 31 years, five days. Of the six IPL final line-ups with an average age of 30-plus, five have been for CSK, featuring two more championships in 2021 and 2023 and an all-time high of 34 years, 66 days when they fell agonizingly short in 2019.

The gulf in performance of their young guns and that of the seasoned ones this time around, paints an interesting picture. For the record, CSK have fielded 10 players aged 27 or younger, while 12 over 28.

CSK players in IPL 2025

Age group Batting (No.1 -8) Bowling
27 or younger Avg: 26.03, SR: 149.90 53 wickets at 28.37, SR: 18, ER: 9.42
Players aged 28-plus Avg: 23.83, SR: 128.61 17 wickets at 46, SR: 28.8, ER: 9.55
Tuesday's contest was no different. Mhatre and Brevis set it up with brisk 40s, but CSK could manage just 17 in the last three overs, the lone boundary coming as a result of a misfield. Dhoni's 17-ball stay at the crease featured seven dots and nine singles. Ravichandran Ashwin, the oldest bowler in the competition, dismissed the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the 14th over of the chase, but it took RR only 19 balls to knock off the remaining 50 runs.