"That's a shame" - AB de Villiers' stunning statement on prodigious CSK batter not playing for RCB amid WCL 2025

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legend AB de Villiers expressed his thoughts on Dewald Brevis not playing for his former franchise in the IPL. De Villiers recently appeared on a podcast amid the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2025.

Brevis is considered to be a younger version of AB de Villiers, as the two share a similar batting style and approach. There was a lot of hype for RCB to pick Brevis during the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025. Much to everyone's surprise, the young prodigious batter was unsold. However, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) later signed him for ₹2.2 crore as a replacement for the injured Gurjapneet Singh.

De Villiers cheekily stated that Brevis not playing for RCB was a shame, but hoped that it would happen in the future.

"Got the number 17 on the back, he plays a similar brand of cricket, very attacking, he's still got a lot to learn. That's a shame. But that can still change, never say never," he said. (6:58)

Brevis played six matches for CSK in IPL 2025. The 22-year-old scored 225 runs at an average of 37.50 with two fifties and a top score of 57. Despite the team having a poor season, Brevis impressed coming in as a replacement midway through.

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AB de Villiers picks the toughest Indian bowler he has faced

In the same podcast, AB de Villiers was asked to name the toughest Indian bowler he faced in his career. Without a second thought, the South African named ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

De Villiers reckoned that Bumrah did not trouble him a lot, but they had great battles against each other. He admitted to having a lot of respect for the Indian speedster.

"Obviously Bumrah. Bumrah is one of the greatest bowlers I've ever played against. He never troubled me too much, luckily, I got hold of him a bit. He is still the same. I faced him at his peak, don't you worry. He was amazing and we've always had great battles against each other. I have a lot of respect for him," he said. (10:20)

Notably, the former batter faced Bumrah across all formats. During India's tour of South Africa in 2018, AB de Villiers faced 111 balls from Bumrah and scored 58 runs, getting out thrice.

The two faced off in two ODIs as well during the same tour. Apart from international cricket, they also came up against each other several times across multiple IPL editions. De Villiers scored 125 runs off 85 balls against Bumrah at a strike-rate of 147.1 overall. The pacer dismissed him thrice during their face-offs.

Edited by Rishab Vm