AB de Villiers is excited about the possibility of Dewald Brevis, who has been referred to as ‘Baby AB’, joining forces with the new ‘Mr 360’ Suryakumar Yadav on the Mumbai Indians squad.
The 16rd Indian Premier League season will kick off on March 31, with the reigning champions, Gujarat Titans, going head-to-head against the Chennai Super Kings. Unfortunately, the Mumbai Indians, who have won the title five times, haven’t reached the playoffs in the past few years, but the supporters will be treated to a thrilling game when Rohit Sharma’s team face the Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2nd in the inauguration fixture of IPL 2023.
AB de Villiers, a former South African cricketer, has a strong affinity for the Bengaluru-based Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), having retired from the T20 league last season. The experienced batsman is excited to see Dewald Brevis, who has been dubbed as ‘Baby AB’, and Suryakumar Yadav, the new ‘Mr 360’, both playing together for the Mumbai Indians.
In a recent article, AB de Villiers compared his Mumbai Indians teammate SKY to Dewald, his protege. He commented on their similarities in terms of their aggressive style of play and how Dewald is younger and has more to learn in comparison to SKY, who has performed exceedingly well with the Mumbai Indians at the IPL. All in all, they both excite him.
Last year, Brevis debuted in the IPL after he was signed for 3 crore rupees by the five-time champions during the 2022 IPL mega auction in February. During his initial season in the T20 competition, he was granted the chance to appear in seven fixtures, where he amassed 161 runs with a mean of 23.00 and a strike rate of 142.47.
Suryakumar Yadav had an outstanding performance in the SA20 T20 League, which began this year, being the second most successful run-scorer for the Mumbai Indians’ sister franchise, MI Cape Town. However, they did not make it to the semi-finals. His impressive total of 303 runs in 8 matches, including three fifties, combined with an average of 43.29 and a high strike-rate of 145.67, has earned him the title of the world’s No.1 T20I batter.
