With his tearaway pace bowling and batting exploits down the order, West Indies allrounder Odean Smith is hoping to land a handsome deal from one of the franchises during the upcoming IPL mega auction. Priced in the highest bracket of Rs 2 crore for the IPL mega auction on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru, Smith is expected to spark a bidding war among the franchises. “Quite excited going to the auction, I would say. If I get selected, that will be good. My hopes are high on getting selected,” the 28-year-old said in a virtual media interaction after the second ODI in Ahmedabad.
Smith said he looks up to fellow Jamaican allrounder Andre Russell who has been a big hit for the two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
“I’m really influenced by Andre Russell I would say. He plays a similar kind of cricket, both with the batting style and bowling. Watching him over the years, I’ve picked up a few in terms of his batting.” Smith showed sparks with his bowling when he removed Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli in one over as India set a modest target of 238. In reply, the visitors were bundled out for 193 in the 46th over with Smith chipping in with a 20-ball 24 batting at No 9.
Smith hoped to bring consistency to his ODI game.
“It’s about consistency. Generally International cricket is not easy. In T20 you have just four overs (to bowl), here you have to bowl 10 overs so you have to fit and be consistent.” Smith, who was a member of their Under-19 World Cup winning squad in 2016, impressed as an allrounder in a losing cause as India won the second ODI by 44 runs here to take an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match in hand.
At the midway stage, Windies had fancied their chances of chasing 238 only to be bowled out for 193 to concede the series.
It was India’s 11th consecutive bilateral ODI series win against West Indies and Rohit Sharma’s first as full-time ODI captain.
“The top order batters did not get enough runs, did not spend enough time at the wicket. It was a difficult wicket and as we saw with the Indian innings, two guys (Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul) stayed long. I think that made all the difference as we did not spend enough time in the middle,” he said.
West Indies needed just 48 runs from the last six overs but Smith got out in the 45th over after his 20-ball 24 and it proved to be too much for the last pair in the end.
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“I’ve a lot of work to do in both the departments going forward. I’ve to do a lot more work in my batting. The task was not that difficult, I should have finished the chase with two good overs, so I’ve a lot of work to do.
“This was my fifth ODI game, so I’ve a lot of time to continue learning,” he concluded. PTI TAP ATK ATK
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