Notes on Brevis, Markram, Rickelton's IPL season
Early thoughts on how Dewald Brevis, Aiden Markram, and Ryan Rickelton did this year
Things didn’t come together for Sunrisers Hyderabad this year. Their opening partnership of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma failed to take over the league as they did last year. Their struggles at the top seeped into the rest of the batting order, so much that Heinrich Klaasen was walking out to bat too early.
But that didn’t stop him from performing well. Klaasen couldn’t win all the games on his own, but the numbers show that he tried his best. He finished with an average of 49 at a strike rate of 173.
One of my favourite new tools from Good Areas is their impact measuring algorithm. It measures the impact an innings has on the match, how much it helps the team get into a strong position or not. According to the algorithm, Klaasen had a mind-blowing impact of 103 in SRH’s campaign. This is Klaasen doing Klaasen things, he has the ability to turn the game on its head. Sadly, he didn’t get much support from the other batters or the bowling attack.
However, Klaasen being Klaasen is not a story. The story is in the three South African batters with the highest impact scores in the 2025 season who come after him.
Dewald Brevis
The IPL was the furthest thing from Dewald Brevis’ mind in 2025. His plan for the South African off-season was to be with Hampshire, playing in the T20 Blast and County Cricket, with the possibility to participate in the One-Day Cup. So, when an IPL team reached out to him because they wanted a replacement player, his first question was whether they could guarantee him playing time.
He recognised that while there was a lot to be gained from learning from legendary coaches and players in the IPL, there was a huge difference between applying what you learn in the nets and in a match situation.
That’s why he was going to Hampshire, they satisfied his two primary requirements: they were happy to have him on the park as much as possible in the T20 Blast, and he was going to play first-class cricket for them. The 22-year-old wants to be an evergreen T20 player, and he believes that he can only achieve that by playing red-ball cricket.
“I am a big believer in this format. If you want to be consistent as a T20 player and want to dominate for years, not just for a short period, you have to look after your game. The best way to do that is by spending time out there, facing the wobble ball, dealing with the swinging ball, and batting on a spinning day-four wicket,” he shared with talkSport.
The IPL side that reached out couldn’t guarantee him time in the middle, so he passed on the offer. Barely a month later, Chennai Super Kings came knocking.
While Stephen Fleming and the CSK management couldn’t guarantee playing time, their offer was appealing. It wasn’t about the money. CSK didn’t offer more than the other suitors, but despite their season circling the drain, they had terms Brevis was happy to accept.
It was an inspired deal for CSK. Brevis, unhappy with how his 2024 season had gone, went back to his school coach and rediscovered his game. He arrived at SA20 as a different player and showed smouldering form for the Titans in the one-day cricket and four-day series.
CSK gave him a go, and he paid them back in spades. In his first outing, it took a world-class catch from Kamindu Mendis to dismiss him. Before that, Brevis had struck an entertaining 42 from 24 balls that gave the Chepauk faithful a reason to cheer. Four games later, Brevis registered his maiden IPL half-century as he steered CSK to a rare win.
Brevis passed 30 five times in six matches, he reached 50 in two instances and went beyond the 40-run mark twice, and finished the season with an average of 37.3 at a strike rate of 180. CSK wanted him to bat from the 10th over onwards, but their top-order collapsed often, and his median entry point was the 6.2-over mark.
According to the Good Areas algorithm, Brevis finished the season with an impact of 77.34. It was the eighth-highest impact when compared to other players on the list of batters with the highest impact in the group stages.
Brevis presented a strong argument to the CSK management with the bat: maybe they should consider him as part of a core to build their team from.
Aiden Markram
Aiden Markram has always been highly rated in Pretoria cricket circles. One can’t really judge whether a youngster will make it as a professional based on their performances against schoolboys. However, where Markram was concerned, coaches in the region whispered among themselves that he had a future in the sport.
In 2010, Markram scored 115 in a Standard Bank Schools Pro20 match for Pretoria Boys High School. The innings left the province whispering about his potential. A year later, he held the PBHS batting together at the Oppenheimer Festival in KwaZulu-Natal. However, it wasn’t until 2014 that people spoke confidently about his potential.
The u19 World Cup helped, but his performances for Tuks went a long way in that regard. Markram performed consistently for Tuks. In one match, he scored a record-breaking 210 at the National Club Championships to lead his side to an unassailable 377 in a 50-over game.
Markram did all of the above as an opener. His natural habitat is at the top of the order. Like everyone from the Pretoria cricket circles, Mark Boucher rated Markram highly. However, the opening slots at the top of the order in the Proteas were spoken for, so he found him a spot at number four.
Markram adapted his game to suit the middle-order. He led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back SA20 titles and has produced moments of brilliance for the Proteas from numbers three and four. However, Lucknow Super Giants decided that they had good enough players for the number three and four slots in Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant, so they asked him to open with Mitch Marsh.
It was a masterstroke. Markram registered his best IPL season. He went past 25 eight times in 13 outings. The 30-year-old converted five of those starts into half-centuries, the most he has registered in a single season. Markram averaged a healthy 34 at a strike of 149. However, what really caught my eye was his impact of 31.
Markram’s campaign left me wondering whether Shukri Conrad should consider returning Markram to his natural habitat at the top of the order in T20Is.
Ryan Rickelton
Ryan Rickelton needed a bit of time before he got going in the IPL. It took his two games to acclimatise, and he freed his arms in his third outing, cantering to a maiden half-century, an unbeaten 62 off 41 balls. From then onwards, Rickelton carved out one of the best debut IPL seasons by a South African batter.
On average, South African batters have struggled in their debut IPL seasons. AB de Villiers carved an impeccable career in the league and is one of the greatest players ever to wield a bat in the league. He had a negative impact with the bat in his debut season.
Quinton de Kock is a staple in the tournament. He had a negative impact. Heinrich Klaasen has been untouchable over the past few years, shining brightly even when SRH were struggling. He had a negative impact in his first season.
Graeme Smith, Albie Morkel, Morne van Wyk, David Miller, Richard Levi, and Faf du Plessis are a few of the batters who moved the needle in a positive direction. I single them out because their impact is in double figures. Smith had an impact of 33 in his first season.
Rickelton registered an average of 34 at a strike rate of 149 in his debut IPL season for an impact of 31, the second-highest by a South African batter in his first IPL season. While his impact stats do not go past Smith’s, Rickelton’s season was good enough to help Mumbai Indians clinch a playoff spot.
Mumbai won eight of their 14 group matches. Rickelton scored three half-centuries in those victories. The left-hander finished the season with an average of 30 at a strike rate of 151. However, Rickelton was so instrumental in Mumbai’s victories that he averaged 44.7 at a strike rate of 153 in their eight wins.
If he can build from this foundation, Rickelton is on the path to building a great IPL career.
It's interesting that Brevis wants to prioritize playing 4-day cricket to make himself a better T20 bat, a very mature decision and probably an unpopular decision for a 22-year-old T20 circuit player to make these days.