West Indies’ pacer Odean Smith got a place in the playing XI after Windies’ skipper Kieron Pollard was ruled out with a niggle in the 2nd ODI match between India and West Indies at Ahmedabad.
Odean grabbed his opportunity , as he dismissed Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli in the same over!
in the 12th over, being bowled by Odean Smith, Rishabh Pant was dismissed on the first delivery. Odean banged the delivery short and angled it across the left-handed Pant. The southpaw was trying to roll his wrists over the shot, spoons the ball high and behind square on his leg side. Jason Holder ran to his left from mid-wicket and comfortably completed the catch.
On the last delivery of the same over, Odean dealt another huge blow as he dismissed former Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Smith bowled the delivery on a good length and shaped away a bit from off. Virat Kohli is drawn into the drive and got a thick edge due to playing the shot with hard hands. The ball went straight to wicketkeeper Shai Hope, and Kohli was dismissed after scoring 18 runs in 30 balls.
In reply, the West indies were All out for 193 in the 46th over with Smith chipping in with a 20-ball 24 batting at No 9.
It is notable that this bowler, who single-handedly put team India on the backfoot in one over, was actually part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in the IPL 2021, and he was just a net bowler!
With this impactful performance, West Indies allrounder Odean Smith is hoping would attract good bids at the upcoming IPL 2022 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,” Odean said in a virtual media interaction after the second ODI in Ahmedabad.
Smith said he looks up to fellow West indies 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 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.”
“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.
“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.