CRICKET POLL

Chennai Super Kings have signed young South African international Dewald Brevis for the remainder of IPL 2025. Brevis has been brought in as a replacement for pacer Gurjapneet Singh. They were able to sign the South African as the replacement since there was one overseas slot left in their roster. Even though Brevis had a base price of only INR 75 Lakh in the auction at the end of last year, CSK have signed him for INR 2.2 Crore.

This is a significant coup for the five-time champions having signed one of the best young prospects in world cricket. Even though he has played only a couple of matches for South Africa so far, Brevis was already in the spotlight a few years ago, drawing comparisons with the legendary AB de Villiers. He had already played 10 matches in total for Mumbai Indians in the IPL and continues to represent them in MLC and SA20.

Overall, the 21-year-old has already played 81 T20s and has a strike rate close to 145. He will come into the IPL on the back of some good form for his domestic side Titans, scoring consistently in both List A and first-class matches. He was in very good form in the SA20 as well earlier this year. Among the top 10 rungetters in the tournament, Brevis finished with the highest strike rate of 184.17. He will link up with a struggling CSK side that sits at the bottom spot with just two wins so far at the halfway mark.

Brevis is the second replacement player for CSK this season who have already signed Mumbai prodigy Ayush Mhatre to replace their regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad. CSK's next game is against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on April 20.