West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith is eager for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) mega-auction. The event is scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13, with two new franchises this time.
Smith, who played the second ODI against India in Ahmedabad, put his all-round skill on display. He picked up two expensive wickets of Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli while giving away only 29 runs in 7 overs.
When the 28-year-old came out to bat, West Indies had a very slim chance of winning, but Smith did keep the hopes alive as long he stayed in the middle; scoring 24 runs.
"Quite excited going to the auction, I would say. If I get selected, that will be good. My hopes are high on getting selected," Smith said in a virtual media interaction after the second ODI which West Indies lost by 44 runs.
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Smith looks up to T20 star and his West Indies teammate Andre Russell, who has a huge demand in the cash-rich league. Russell has been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise since IPL 2014.
KKR retained Russell ahead of the IPL 2022 auction as their first-choice player and he will be paid INR 16 crore for the signing.
"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 said.
The Caribbean all-rounder added that he is looking to have consistency in his performance. "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," he added.
Smith spoke on West Indies' defeat in the second ODI and he explained that the partnership of Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul for India made the difference on a testing track.
"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.
The Jamaica-born knows the area he needs to work on and he agreed that finishing the run-chase in the second ODI was within his reach. "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.
(With PTI Inputs)
