West Indian Odean Smith enjoyed a bumper outing at the IPL 2022 mega-auction on Sunday as he was snapped up by Punjab Kings for a whopping INR 6 crore.
Punjab were the first to raise their paddle when Odean Smith’s name came up at the auction. In contention came Lucknow followed by Rajasthan Royals, but as the bidding got intense those two backed out. Sunrisers Hyderabad gave a go for the burly West Indian all-rounder, however, they pulled out allowing Punjab to bag the services of the 25-year-old at a 6 crore price.
Of course, the recency bias played in the minds of the team: Odean Smith was impressive with both bat and ball in the recently concluded ODI series against India. He picked 3 wickets in games, including that of Virat Kohli, and then struck 60 runs at a strike rate of 157.
His name had already been hyped up a lot ahead of the India series owing to his thunderous performances in the CPL and the Abu Dhabi T10 league.
Odean Smith had made a name for himself as a hard-hitting finisher and someone who can bowl skiddy, rapid pace with his short run-up. He can tonk the ball long and big – as shown in the ODIs against India when he took over the big boundaries at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
He was the third-highest wicket-taker in CPL 2021 with 18 scalps in 11 games and regularly provided the side with handy finishes.
Overall, in T20 cricket, the right-arm speedster has nipped out 36 wickets in 32 innings but has been expensive at times. With the bat, he smashes at the strike rate of 130 in the short format. Although Odean Smith is a work in progress, he is a brute force with the bat and can become a first-eleven pacer.
Punjab would have bought the Jamaican with the long-term vision in mind – and added him to their already powerful batting line-up. PBKS have assembled a flurry of dashing batters – Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, followed by Odean Smith!
