South Africa Under-19 batsman Dewald Brevis debuted for the Mumbai Indians in Wednesday’s Indian Premier League fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Pune.
Brevis struck sixes off Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins and Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy. He eventually fell for 29 from 19 deliveries.
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At the player auction earlier this year, Mumbai, the Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings bid for Brevis. Mumbai ultimately purchased him for the approximate equivalent of R6 million. He had recently struck a record-breaking 506 runs in six innings at the Under-19 World Cup in the Caribbean.
He has drawn comparisons to former Proteas captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore star AB de Villiers.
“It is an honour to be compared to AB, but it is important for me to have my own identity. I want to be known as Dewald Brevis,” he told mumbaiindians.com.
“We went to the same school and played under the same coach so when I first met him, I could not get a word out. There were many things I wanted to ask him but I was star struck.
“I would say he is great to learn from – he makes time for you and that is something I really appreciate. I mean, he is AB de Villiers and he could be a very different guy but he is very humble. I plan to ask him about his knowledge of the IPL soon.”