Dewald Brevis became the most expensive player in the SA20 2025-26 player auction, when Pretoria Capitals secured his services for R16.5 million (USD 940,000) on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old was involved in an intense bidding war with Joburg Super Kings before the Capitals placed the winning bid.
The record deal surpassed Aiden Markram’s earlier signing for R14 million (USD 794,000), who had briefly set the benchmark as the first player to fetch beyond R10 million in SA20 auctions, bettering Tristan Stubbs’ R9.2 million price tag from 2023.
Dewald Brevis rewarded for consistency in T20 leagues
Brevis has been among the most in-demand young batters in global T20 leagues and was instrumental in MI Cape Town’s maiden title triumph in 2025, scoring 291 runs at an average of 48.5 and a strike rate of 184.17. The youngster, who was unsold in the IPL 2025 mega auction before being procured by Chennai Super Kings as an injury replacement, ended the tournament as one of the bright spots in what was a dismal campaign for the side. In six games, he scored 225 runs at a strike rate of 180, along with two fifties. He then carried his form into the T20 Blast, where he managed a strike rate of 180.43 at an average of 33.20 across six innings for Hampshire.
Overall, in 103 T20s, he has made 2,491 runs with a strike rate of 154.81, along with two hundreds and 11 fifties.
Nicknamed Baby AB, after AB de Villiers, Brevis first burst onto the scene during the 2022 Under-19 World Cup, where he finished as the highest run-scorer, with 506 runs in six games at an average of 84.33, with two hundreds and a strike rate of 90.19.
Pretoria Capitals head coach Sourav Ganguly welcomed the acquisition and said: “We’re very happy. I think he's a very good player. Obviously, 16.5 million is the other side of the way of looking at it, but just in terms of quality on our pitch, our ground, Pretoria, I hope he does well. He's a game changer, and that's what you need in T20 cricket. We have [Andre] Russell and [Sherfane] Rutherford, who can actually really steam it up. I never relate performance to money, and leaving aside the 16.5 million, and I think he's a great talent.”
The fourth edition of the SA20 begins on Boxing Day this year, with the final scheduled for January 25, 2026.
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