Two weeks and two days after becoming head coach of the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20, Sourav Ganguly is up and running. The former India captain, sitting at the auction, convinced the franchise to shell out a record sum of 16.5 million rand to acquire Dewald Brevis at the Season 4 SA20 Player auctions. Brevis, 22, expected to be the costliest buy, lived up to the billing, surpassing Aiden Markram to whip out a staggering amount, whose Indian conversion comes to more than ₹8 crore.
Right from the time Brewis’ name came up, the South African youngster immediately triggered a bidding war between Joburg Super Kings and the Paarl Royals. Stephen Fleming and Kumar Sangakkara went at it rigorously, to the extent that within 4 minutes, Brevis breached the 10-million mark, sparking a round of applause in the room. Neither JSK nor PR was willing to let go until one finally did. With the Royals pulling out, JSK felt they had their man, but Ganguly had other plans. The Capitals came in at R10.1 million and put Fleming under the pump.
The Capitals were finally made to think when JSK upped the bid to 13 million, but were back in action after a moment of thinking. So dedicated were the Super Kings in acquiring Brevis that the only franchise pausing and stuttering was the Capitals. The reactions on the people’s faces when the bid reached 15 million told the story. Finally, at 16.5, JSK stopped, with Fleming signalling they were out. As the gavel finally struck, Ganguly and his team breathed a sigh of relief.
Watch the bidding war below:
Sourav Ganguly reflects on Dewald Brevis’ record buy
“I hope he does well. I think he is a tremendous talent. His game has really progressed over the last one and a half year, as we saw against Australia. On that tour, he showed he is a game-changer, and that’s exactly what you need in T20 cricket. We have Russell, Rutherford, who can really step it up, and I hope Brevis does the same. I never associate performance with money. Leaving aside the R 16.5 million, I believe he is a fantastic talent. He plays spin very well, which is extremely important, and taking everything into account, that’s why he went for that price,” Ganguly said.
Brevis was a late purchase for CSK at the IPL 2025. After going unsold, he came in as an injury replacement, Gurjapneet Singh. In six matches, he scored 225 runs with two half-centuries at a strike rate of 180.
