“They decided to let go of him” - RCB legend issues clarification over Dewald Brevis & CSK tweet after IPL 2025

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Hall of Fame, AB de Villiers, has justified his recent tweets following a controversy involving South African batter Dewald Brevis and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The cricketer-turned-analyst reminded that several IPL franchises like RCB and Mumbai Indians (MI) missed out on the talented batter by ignoring him at the 2025 auction.

De Villiers’ statement came days after Brevis slammed the second-fastest ton for South Africa in the second T20I against Australia. The 22-year-old smashed 125* (56). He followed that up with a quickfire 53 off 26 in the third game.

The remarks came as the Super Kings recently released an official statement, clarifying that they followed the IPL 2025-27 rules. It came after teammate R Ashwin claimed that the franchise might have paid ‘extra money’ to buy the youngster.

The Super Kings bought Brevis as a replacement player for ₹2.2 crore mid-IPL 2025 season. The right-handed batter delivered with the bat, smashing 225 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 180, including two fifties.

AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel:

“2:40 – I purely just wanted to say that a lot of teams missed out, and I think that was the message from me. People, organizers of the IPL franchises, the owners, whoever, the scouts, I felt, got it horribly wrong in that main auction, not picking him up. What a fantastic opportunity they had. I think teams like RCB, obviously, he was at MI before, they decided to let go of him and not get him back. So, big loss I feel for a lot of teams, and he’s showing that now. My tweet was all about, sort of, just show that how capable this guy is, how talented he is.”

“2:15- I also tweeted about him being picked up at the IPL or not being picked up initially and then getting into CSK’s team because of an injury. I thought maybe some people misunderstood my tweet. It had nothing to do with any technical or anything to do with the rules of the IPL,” he added.

“When to take the foot off the pedal” – AB de Villiers’ words of wisdom for Dewald Brevis

AB de Villiers further shared a precious advice for Dewald Brevis, suggesting he keep changing his gears throughout his innings. He asked the CSK batter to play both defensive and attacking shots.

The former South Africa captain said in the same video:

“1:48 – Brevis, I mean, when he gets going, it is just wonderful to watch. He strikes fear into all bowling attacks, and that’s the kind of player you want in your team, but that is also an area of concern for me where he struggles to sort of get out of that fifth gear back to third and fourth, just to sort of learn to control the game better. I think it's going to be very important for him moving forward.”

“Understanding the change of gears and when to take the foot off the pedal a little bit. But obviously, a natural ball striker. He strikes fear into all bowling attacks and that’s the kind of player you want in your team,” the 41-year-old added.

Following his T20I heroics, Brevis made his ODI debut against Australia in the series opener in Cairns on Tuesday, August 19.