For Brevis, it's all about staying true to himself

Somewhere between waves in Cape Town and the chaos of the Indian Premier League, Dewald Brevis has figured out the hardest thing for a modern cricketer to pull off. It is neither innovation, nor power hitting, nor the intense social media scrutiny players go through. It is staying true to himself.

- Samreen Razzaqui

In an era where every failure is measured against replacement options breathing down their necks, Brevis has spent the last few years learning that the danger was never getting out while playing his shots. Instead, the danger was when he drifted away from his game and lost himself.

“ I’m just being true to myself,” Brevis told HT. “ I’m not trying to be someone else. This is how I play and this is how I want to play.”

For a player whose game is built on audacity — scoops, angles and challenging geometry — his innovation is now rooted in trying to protect his natural instinct. Although he admits he was lucky to have guidance from his high school coach Deon Botes and later, the influence of AB de Villiers and MS Dhoni, there was also some pressure to change.