The new year has been a revelation for young South African batsman Dewald Brevis.

Nicknamed ‘Baby AB’ after Proteas legend AB de Villiers, and you will know why once you see him bat, Brevis set the stage on fire during the recently-concluded U19 World Cup.

He scored 506 runs, the most in a single edition of the U19 World Cup, with two hundreds and three fifties. Brevis also picked up seven wickets with his handy leg-spin as South Africa finished in seventh place.

All this meant that the eyeballs were firmly trained on him as one of the most exciting youngsters in world cricket coming into the IPL mega auction.

Mumbai Indians duly snapped him up for ₹3 cr and it may just have been a match waiting to happen because a certain Sachin Tendulkar is one of his heroes.

“It is a huge honour to be a part of a franchise with an amazing record like Mumbai Indians. Me and my brother idolised so many players in the Mumbai family while we grew up. Sachin Tendulkar is one of my childhood heroes,” Brevis revealed in an interview with The Times of India.

“Mumbai Indians is a team that you always feel have a very good chance of winning the IPL and their past record shows that. They have been good at giving young players a chance and I am privileged to have an opportunity to work with their world-class coaching staff,” he added.

One other aspect Brevis is looking forward to is playing under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who just like the South African, was identified as an extraordinary talent at a young age.

“I am very excited to play under Rohit Sharma. He is someone that I admire and for a young player like me to be able to share a dressing room with a captain and player like Rohit is a dream come true. I will try to learn as much as I can from him,” Brevis stated in the chat.

Those are some very fine ambitions that young Dewald Brevis has in mind as he gears up for his first IPL season. What do you think, Paltan - can Brevis achieve all that he has set out to?