South African legend AB de Villiers has clarified his remark on how signing Dewald Brevis out of the IPL auction was a ‘masterstroke’ for Chennai Super Kings last year. After his comments kicked off speculation
and prompted CSK to issue a statement that their signing was ‘in complete compliance’ with IPL rules, de Villiers said his quote was more about Brevis’ talent than the rules of the IPL.
Brevis went unsold in the IPL 2025 auction. The only way he could still play the season was by being signed as an injury replacement. A couple of teams had injuries but couldn’t/didn’t get him in, and CSK’s opportunity arose when uncapped pacer Gurjanpreet Singh picked up a minor injury. CSK were accused of using a league ‘loophole’ by getting an international star like Brevis in when Singh was soon seen bowling in a practice game.
“I purely just wanted to say that a lot of teams missed out, and I think that was the message from me,” de Villiers said. “People, organisers 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,” he added.
“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 showing how capable this guy is, how talented he is,” he said.
“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.”
Ashwin also said on his YouTube channel that CSK were ‘willing to pay extra’, which caused rumors about a possible under-the-table payment from the team, which is not allowed in the league. After CSK’s statement, Ashwin, too, said that his comment was also about Brevis’s ability.
Now, CSK are allowed within the rules to permanently sign Brevis for the next season, despite not getting him in the auction.
