Exclusive: Titans Richard das Neves Says Dewald Brevis' Ultra-Positive Attitude Earned Him IPL Comeback

Titans' interim coach for the 2024/25 season, Richard das Neves, emphasised that 21-year-old Dewald Brevis did not get down on himself after not being picked up in the Indian Premier League Auction last year. 

Das Neves highlighted that the star batter's ultra-positive approach in life allowed him to improve fast enough to get roped in the IPL by Chennai Super Kings as a replacement for an injured player.

Dewald's ultra-positive attitude

For many players, missing out on a spot in the Indian Premier League can be career career-defining hit. In the past, many players have failed to bounce back from such a hit and have since been forgotten.

For Brevis, a young batter who debuted in the IPL at 18 years of age, having starred in the Under-19 World Cup, missing out on the IPL auction could have been an even more devastating blow.

However, Das Neves told SportsBoom.co.za that the youngster's ultra-positive outlook forced him to improve his batting, having had below-average performances in the IPL in his first couple of seasons.

The youngster's improvements were vivid as he helped the MI Cape Town side win the third edition of the SA20 with consistent performances with the bat.

As a result, when Chennai Super Kings looked for a replacement for the injured Gurjapneet Singh, Brevis was called up.

"Even though he wasn't picked up in the IPL auction, he didn't necessarily get down on himself. He knew that there'd be opportunities down the line if he just gets back to doing what he does best, which he certainly has in the last four or five months, I would say, where he's hit a bit of a golden patch of form," Das Neves told SportsBoom.co.za.

"We forget that he is only 21 years old. He's obviously already played three or four full seasons in professional cricket, but he's still really young and with that, he is going to have ups and downs. He's certainly going to have bad runs again in the future."

"I mean, that's all part of the game. The one thing about Dewald is that he's always super positive. If you look at his calendar year of 2024, it was a pretty average season for him. But he always stays positive. He stays true to himself."

"He's always looking at the most positive side of every story or every aspect of cricket. He's a joy to work with, really. And, you know, sometimes you actually want to shake him and just say, look, it's not all sunshine and unicorns. You know, you actually have to knuckle down."

County cricket is the finishing school

Das Neves believes that missing out on the IPL auction was a blessing in disguise for Brevis as he then looked at other options, such as playing County cricket in the UK during the South African winter.

Once Brevis is done with the IPL this season, his stint with Hampshire in the UK will begin, and Das Neves believes that playing in England will unleash Brevis' full potential.

"He's getting a bit of opportunity in other things as well. He's obviously with Hampshire in County cricket through the winter, where he's going to play Vitality Blast as well as Four-Day cricket for them, which I think will be awesome for his development," said Das Neves.

"Facing the Duke ball in England, hopefully in swinging conditions, he can develop that side of things as well, which is something that we've spoken about for the last couple of years that I think the sort of finishing school for Dewald will be to play County cricket for a couple of seasons where he literally goes from one format to the next day to day, like literally for three, four months, just plays cricket every single day."

"We were very keen on him doing that. We actually turned him not making the IPL into a positive, so he must look at these options of getting county cricket. It just so happens that he's been picked up now at the back end of this tournament for CSK, which is just credit to what he's done in the last few months."

Honest conversations

Das Neves and the Titans coaching staff had honest conversations with Brevis after not being picked up in the IPL auction.

Das Neves told SportsBoom.co.za that the conversations were about getting him to his best form.

"The main conversations that we had were what type of cricket does Dewald want to play? What's the best side of Dewald Brevis? And that, again, leads towards that ultra-aggressive, ultra-positive in particular against spin, which is one of his strengths, where it doesn't actually matter what the situation of the game is," said Das Neves.