IPL 2022 | Odean Smith has become a 4-5 crore player because all teams will run after him, opines Aakash Chopra

India recently won a three match ODI series against West Indies with a clean sweep. Odean Smith played a crucial role for the visitors as he displayed his all-round skills in the series. He hit the most number of sixes in the series scoring 18 ball 36 in the final ODI and playing a knock of 24 runs from 20 balls in the second ODI. He also scalped three wickets in the series. 

The mega auction for IPL 2022 is scheduled on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru and Smith will be an important pick for franchises with his all-round skills. Former India cricketer Akash Chopra believes that the player has become a half-a-million dollar player. 

"Odean Smith - I feel he has become a half-a-million-dollar player. He has already become a 4-5 crore player because all teams will run after him. Overall, the skillset with which he is coming, in the IPL mega auction, he will get a lot of horns blown. He bowls, Rishabh Pant and Kohli dismissed in one over and he would have got Rahul as well, and then came to play the big shots," said Chopra on his YouTube channel. 

Smith himself is expecting to get a good deal from the mega auction. He also added that he looks up to Andre Russell and is influenced by him. 

"Quite excited going to the auction, I would say. If I get selected, that will be good. My hopes are high on getting selected," he said.

"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."