[imagesource: Twitter / @IPL]

It’s been a long, long time since a young player captivated South Africa’s attention quite like Dewald Brevis.

Fresh off breaking the Under-19 Cricket World Cup tournament scoring record, Brevis returned home and starred with the bat (and occasional legspin ball) in the CSA T20 Challenge.

There were some eyebrows raised when he was sold on auction to the Mumbai Indians for a cool three crore (around R6 million). They don’t call him ‘Baby AB’ for nothing, and de Villiers has become a mentor to Brevis, but now he’s starring in the IPL under the watchful tutelage of Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene.

Yesterday, with his side chasing 199 for victory against the Punjab Kings, Brevis initially struggled after coming in at three and failed to score off his first eight balls.

No bother, as the next 13 balls were clobbered for 44. This included a demolition job of renowned legspinner Rahul Chahar who was taken for 29 off an over:

Dewald Brevis smashes 4️⃣6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/5PS9TqAbyB

— SA Cricket magazine (@SACricketmag) April 14, 2022

The last of those sixes measured 112 metres, making it the longest of the tournament thus far. He also claimed fourth spot with a six measuring 102 metres.

You have to love the cheeky grin at the end:

112m six🙌🥵- longest in #IPL2022 #dewaldbrevis announced his arrival in style 🔥
BABY ‘AB’ they said very well said…💯#MumbaiIndians #BABYAB pic.twitter.com/uGuqY99IIC

— Mr. laZy (@ShaikZiaullah) April 13, 2022

Brevis is not yet 19. Playing in the IPL and having Sachin and Mahela rush out to the middle to have a chat after smashing the bowlers everywhere must be quite a thrill.

After Dewald Brevis’ 4,6,6,6,6 – Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene smiling and enjoying during time-out. pic.twitter.com/FQTNatgmeK

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) April 13, 2022

Sadly, Brevis would fall one run short of becoming the youngest overseas player to score a 50 in the IPL, ending on 49 off 25 balls.

Once the IPL wraps up, I hope there are some plans to play first-class cricket. I would hate to see a talent like this becoming a T20 specialist.

[source:ndtv]