Who is Odean Smith? - All you need to know about Punjab Kings' INR 6 crore landing

West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith left a lot of IPL fans surprised as he created a bidding war among the franchises and finally was picked up for INR 6 crore by the Punjab Kings. As many as five franchises battled it out for the 25-year-old who recently had a fantastic T20I series against England. After intense bidding with the likes of Lucknow Super Giants, Rajasthan Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Punjab Kings finally landed the West Indian in their squad.

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Smith recently took part in the ODI series against India, and he immediately impressed a lot of experts with his hard-hitting skills down the order and also with his ability to bowl quickly. Bowlers who can crank up good speeds in IPL have had a great demand and Smith is in no way different.

He comes into the all-rounders’ category which is one of the toughest positions in the side to fill up and he will need to make sure his long levers come through well in IPL 2022 for the Punjab Kings.

Odean Smith’s recent numbers for West Indies

Smith was quite impressive in the second ODI he played against India, as he picked up the big wicket of Virat Kohli by setting him up nicely and finished with figures of 2 for 29 in 7 overs.

He came in at No. 9 in the batting order and smacked a 20-ball 24 with two sixes and flexed his big muscles in the process. He continued his good run in the third ODI as well where he scored an 18 ball 36, in which he hit three huge maximums and three fours as well. Although Smith is still a work in progress, he can be groomed as a great all-rounder prospect in the future and franchises have been really impressed with his tonking of the ball.

The 25-year-old has had some good outings in the T20 format since 2017 and has a strike rate of 130. He has been a wicket-taker with the ball with 36 wickets in 33 games in the format and looks a potent option in the middle overs. Punjab Kings will now have sorted out their middle-order issues from previous IPL with bowlers who can bat as well.