South Africa’s U19 star Dewald Brevis spoke about how happy and excited he was playing for Mumbai Indians, his idol AB de Villers and other players ahead of their fixture against Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne stadium Mumbai on Saturday in the Indian Premier League 2022 season.

In their last game against Punjab Kings, the 18-year-old showed glimpses of the talent he possesses during his 49 off 25 balls. Such young overseas stars are a rare sight in the IPL but Mumbai, impressed by his batting technique and boldness at the Under-19 World Cup, picked Brevis at the auction in February.

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Brevis, dubbed ‘Baby AB’ after drawing comparisons to South African legend AB de Villiers during the U19 World Cup earlier this year, smacked four consecutive sixes against leg-spinner Rahul Chahar.

Speaking on the MI show on Star Sports, Dewald Brevis said, “I think lot of people know AB de Villiers, and I have looked up to him since I was a youngster and love the way he played and how he goes about his game.”

“Then also Sachin Tendulkar, always idolised him because the way he plays and the way he lives about his motos and how he goes about the things in life. I also like Virat Kohli and as a bowler Shane Warne, I look upto him because I’m also a leg spinner so that’s why.”

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On speaking about this year’s IPL, Dewald Brevis said, “I’m so excited, for me I really look forward to spending time with every single player in the team, learning from them and when I get the opportunity, use it mostly just to learn, play the game and to enjoy it and keep it simple.”

Brevis is the youngest player to have featured in a playing XI so far this IPL and was on course to becoming the youngest player to score a half-century in the IPL before being dismissed for 49 runs by Arshdeep Singh.