Even though most things are not going in the right direction for the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League, their young batting sensations, Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma, have impressed everyone with their dominating performances in the tournament so far.
They have batted with responsibility in the middle overs and, at the same time, hammered the opposition bowlers as well to keep the scoreboard moving.
The South African batter, Brevis, has been on a roll since the start of this year and has already made a big name for himself in the ICC U-19 World Cup. Coming into the IPL, there was a lot of talk about the ‘Baby AB’ and in the three outings, he has lived up to that billing.
Brevis made his debut against KKR in Pune and scored 29 off 19 balls in his maiden outing. He was one of the two overseas players that were included in the playing XI for the team’s next match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and even though he failed to do much with the bat in that game, he made sure that he caught the eyeballs again and did so by taking the prize wicket of former Indian captain Virat Kohli on the first ball he bowled.
Brevis was in full flow against Punjab Kings as he hammered former MI spinner Rahul Chahar for four back-to-back sixes in his first over of the spell. In that over, Brevis amassed a total of 28 runs. However, he was unlucky to miss out on his first IPL fifty and got out on 49.
In the five matches of the 2022 season so far, he has scored 157 runs at an average of 39.25 and a strike rate of over 160.
His 33-ball 61 against Rajasthan Royals kept MI in the run chase and his 38 not out against KKR made sure that Mumbai posted a challenging total. Against Punjab Kings, too, he made 36 off just 20 balls.
With their performance up till now, the duo has gained many followers, and one of them is MI teammate Suryakumar Yadav, who is impressed with the talent of these two youngsters.
“I think they have come to one of the best franchises, and there are so many people around them, amazing team management and a great captain. Actually, I do not need to give any advice to them. They have been working really hard since they arrived here, and they have been doing a wonderful job. Looking at them, I sometimes feel that if I had these many shots at that age and the way they are playing, with so much positivity, I feel they are going to make it big soon,” Surya said on Friday.
After losing five matches in a row, MI will next face KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants in Match Number 26 at Brabourne Stadium on Saturday (April 16).
