AB de Villiers Blames Himself For Pressure On Dewald Brevis; Reveals Advice For Struggling Batter

Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers opened up about the valuable advice he shared with Dewald Brevis, who is struggling with form in SA20 2024. De Villiers revealed that he told the young batter to keep his head up as he is close to his best.

Mumbai Indians Cape Town batter Dewald Brevis has struggled to get going in the ongoing SA20. The batter hasn’t been able to score runs as he has looked on torrid touch and it seems that he has no clue to the questions put up by the bowlers.

Dewald Brevis, who is touted as Baby AB de Villiers, has been undergoing a rough patch over the last few months. In the ongoing tournament, he has scored just 28 runs in four games. The batter has the highest score of just 10 so far, which speaks about his struggles.

AB de Villiers, who has been mentoring Dewald Brevis, revealed that he texted the young sensational and told him to be positive, thinking about one ball at a time. He added that the right-hander acknowledged that with the heart emoji. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:

“I texted him last night, I said ‘ You’re close! Keep your head up. Keep going one ball at a time.’ He replied with ‘I will do that. Thank you very much’ with a heart emoji.”

AB de Villiers believes that Dewald Brevis looks in a bit of a hurry and admitted that batter has lot of weight in his shoulders because of him. He feels that touting him as Baby AB has put a lot of pressure on the young batter. He added:

“He (Brevis) is in a bit of a hurry. He is a young man and it’s understandable. He has a lot of weight in his shoulders, largely because of me. I am so sorry about that. All these people who put so much attention on him adds to the pressure. He knows how fickle the game of cricket is. It is about millimeters.” 

Rickelton swept me off my feet – AB de Villiers 

AB de Villiers was also in awe of young Mumbai Indians Cape Town batter Ryan Rickelton. He said that the batter has taken his cricket to the next level and hailed him as the super star for South Africa. He explained:

“He (Rickelton) swept me off my feet. I didn’t see this coming. I knew he was a consistent performer in domestic cricket but the way he is batting, he has taken his cricket to the next level. A superstar for South Africa and I hope some IPL teams have taken notice of his ability to win games.”

Ryan Rickelton has been so far the best batter in the SA20 league so far. The batter has scored 337 in just four games at an average of 112.33. He has slammed four consecutive fifties in the tournament. In the last game against Paarl Royals, he slammed 94* and helped his team win the game while chasing 173 runs.