"I found myself a few times in his room" - Dewald Brevis opens up on interacting with MS Dhoni at CSK in IPL 2025

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Dewald Brevis has showered his praise on legendary skipper MS Dhoni following his maiden season with the franchise. While expressing his gratitude, the 22-year-old said he spent quality time with the five-time IPL-winning captain, speaking about the game and his hobbies. Brevis added that he was awestruck by his humble nature, which involved giving ample time to all the players by ensuring his doors were always open.

Notably, Brevis joined the Super Kings as a replacement player mid IPL 2025 season for INR 2.2 crore. The right-handed batter delivered with the bat, smashing 225 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 180, including two half-centuries.

On Thursday (September 4), Brevis said AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel:

“I’ll always remember like, whenever I tell people it’s amazing. I had amazing times, my four years [in IPL]. It was incredible. And I had to go through all of the journey like it’s been beautiful, and the one thing that I can just say from MS is his humbleness and who he is as a person that stood out for me. How he is basically off the field, the time he has for players, for people."

"His room door is always open. If he’s sleeping, that’s the only time it’s closed. And I found myself a few times in his room just sitting there with whatever he’s busy like chatting to him about his hobbies, watching cricket, and yeah, that’s just amazing and just to see how what he does like off the field and like everyone knows what he does on the field and at training and yeah just it’s very special,” he added.

Brevis was equally impressed by the backing from Stephen Fleming-led CSK coaching staff, adding that he easily gelled with the foreign and local players:

“I enjoyed my time there. Flem, all the coaches, I see, Eric, everyone was really amazing, how they took me in, and their backing was amazing to just walk in and to almost like settle in first. Didn’t play the first game, but I knew the plans that they’ve got for me. And yeah, it was great. Like really enjoyed all of the other guys. Like, there’s a few great overseas players were fun to have there as well, and also the local guys.

The Johannesburg-born player further picked Chennai as his favorite city in India. The youngster also expressed his desire to surf at the local beach. Brevis said:

“(Favorite Indian city) – I couldn’t explain how it felt when I batted at Chepauk Stadium. It was incredible, like my second entry, especially. I haven’t been to Dharamsala in India. I think that’s beautiful, but obviously, I’m playing for Chennai, so Chennai is a special place. There’s a beach as well. I need to try and surf next year there.”

However, AB de Villiers quickly gave him a reality check about his wishful thinking. He reacted cheekily:

“It’s way too hot. You can’t go to the beach there. You won’t make it.”

“That’s the advice you gave me” – Dewald Brevis credits AB de Villiers for his biggest learning in IPL

Dewald Brevis further credited AB de Villiers for his words of wisdom in the IPL. He said that sticking to his natural game and staying close to his family helped him enjoy the journey. The Proteas batter spoke in the same video:

“(Biggest learning in IPL) – I think the big thing for me was at the start my first year I was young and I always felt like I need to find my feet at first and I was like okay my family everyone they need to just wait before they visit like I want to I don’t want to be like the guy that’s there and then the family is there and he’s not. So, I wanted to show I’ve grown up. I can do my own things and figure it out.

"But the big thing for me was that whatever you do off the field, and things like I want to share it with my family. I want to share it with people that I love, people in my inner circle. And it’s those small things that I feel you mustn’t try to punish yourself. You need to be by yourself to almost make that breakthrough, and I had to go through that."

He continued:

"And now I was like, it’s been like my brother and dad’s been to India, and my mom hasn’t been. And for me, I felt like it’s been 4 years, and I’m so upset that my mom couldn’t come and visit and experience it like the crazy love for cricket there, the stadiums, and all those things. And that was something that really shook me, and I realized that those are important things. And also like when it comes to just playing it’s like.

“And that’s advice that you (ABD) gave me, and it’s a big thing, and you actually can’t control it, but your first game is quite important. And if you can start well, and I know your stats says it also your first game… That was nice, but then everything just stayed the same. To enjoy it, to watch the ball, to not, basically, it is the biggest league and the best one. So, there is a lot of much more expectation, but because of that, I just told myself that I’m not going to change anything. I’m just going to keep doing what I‘ve been doing… just to go out there, enjoy it, watch it and have fun,” Brevis concluded.

Apart from the Super Kings, Dewald Brevis also played for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2022 and 2024 seasons.