Kamal Ghorui
Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming remains optimistic about Dewald Brevis’ return, stressing that the team has taken a cautious approach to his recovery and is targeting his availability for the next game. Brevis has missed the first three matches of IPL 2026 due to a side strain, a setback that has hurt CSK’s balance early in the season. However, with a five-day gap before their next fixture against Delhi Capitals on April 11 in Chennai, Fleming is hopeful the young batter will be ready. “We hope he [Dewald Brevis] is going to be right for the next game. We have five days between the next game. We have been conservative, and hopefully, these next five days will go as well as we have planned, and he is ready to go. It’s a big loss, but we are looking forward to getting him back,” Fleming said. CSK have certainly felt his absence, having lost their opening three matches. Brevis, who joined the franchise as a replacement in IPL 2025, had emerged as a rare positive in an otherwise disappointing campaign, scoring 225 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 180, including 17 sixes. The franchise retained him for this season, with plans to slot him into the middle order once fully fit. There have already been signs of progress. Ahead of the clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Brevis spent time batting in the nets and faced throwdowns from assistant coach Rajiv Kumar, indicating that his return may not be far away. Fleming also reflected on CSK’s latest defeat, where a strong start slipped away in the final overs. He identified Tim David’s explosive finish as the key phase that took the game out of their reach. “The real turning point was the Tim David in the back end, the acceleration he did through the last sort of five overs,” Fleming told reporters. RCB piled up a daunting 250 for 3, powered by David’s unbeaten 70 off 25 balls, alongside impactful contributions from Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Rajat Patidar. Fleming felt CSK had opportunities earlier in the innings but failed to capitalise, eventually losing control at the death — a phase that also affected their approach with the bat. “Some good things early on, we created some chances. We unfortunately just couldn’t get a couple more wickets for our efforts, and then we hung in, and then unfortunately just lost our shape in the back end. It was a good wicket, and I think if we’d just been able to hold our nerve and execute a bit better, 210, 220 would have been in our grasp. But we just got a little bit shell-shocked and that flowed through into the early parts of batting as well,” he added. Despite fighting knocks from Sarfaraz Khan, Prashant Veer and Jamie Overton, CSK fell short at 207 all out, slipping to their third straight defeat. With Brevis nearing a return and lessons from their recent setbacks, CSK will look to reset quickly when they take the field next.
