In front of an international media after the ICC World T20 final, man of the match Marlon Samuels took questions at the post-match press conference with his pads on and his feet up on a table. The entire drama lasted about six-and-a-half minutes.
You may call it disrespect shown by a senior international cricketer. You may even call it immaturity from a person who has not justified his full potential despite playing international cricket for a decade-and-a-half. Some may even find nothing wrong with it, with the man having scored a match-winning career-best 85* to guide the West Indies to their second World T20 title.
Samuels, perhaps, had a point to prove by putting his feet up. He may have felt like he had conquered the world – indeed, it was a world event final – as he and his teammates played throughout the event with an ‘us versus them’ attitude.
The 35-year-old may come across as a man with no expression on his face, remaining calm on the field even amidst mounting tension at the Eden Gardens on Sunday night. But behind the expressionless face was a variety of emotions, largely built on anger from what has been said against him by opposition players and TV experts.
Samuels has been having an on-field feud with England all-rounder Ben Stokes for quite some time now. Samuels sent off Stokes with a salute during a Test in Grenada last April after the Durham cricketer badmouthed the Jamaican during the latter’s seventh Test century.
The two carried their battle forward on Sunday. Stokes sledged Samuels after West Indies were reduced to 11/3 and again after the batsman was given out caught behind on 27 only to be later given not out as the ball had bounced into Jos Buttler’s gloves.
Samuels turned the tables when Brathwaite smashed those four sixes from Stokes. The West Indian had to be restrained by his support staff including bowling coach Curtly Ambrose before things went out of order in his celebration.
“Well, he doesn’t learn,” Samuels said about his issues with Stokes, his feet still on the table. “They keep telling him whenever he plays against me, do not speak to me because I’m going to perform. (I) didn’t even face a ball and he had so much to say to me today (Sunday). So I know I had to be right there at the end, again.”
Despite their rivalry, Samuels seems to have read Stokes’s mind perfectly over a period of time, so much so that he knew exactly what the Englishman would be sending down in the last over to Brathwaite.
“I told Brathwaite Stokes is a nervous lad, you know. What I tell Brathwaite is to hold his pose, he is going to bowl a couple of full-tosses, as always, and it worked in our favour,” he said.
Not just Stokes, Samuels also directed his anger at legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. The two have also had a run-in in the past in the Big Bash League, and Warne also criticised Samuels for his non-performance in Thursday’s semifinal against India.
“I played a Test series in Australia and everything, Shane Warne has a problem with me, I don’t know what. I’ve never disrespected him, it seems as if he has a lot inside him that he needs to come out. I don’t appreciate the way that he continues to talk about me, and the things he keeps doing. I don’t know, maybe it is because my face is real and his face is not,” Samuels, who dedicated the man of the match trophy to the Australian, said.
Asked if Warne’s comments provoked him, Samuels said: “(There’s been) a lot of negative stuff, not just in the last couple of weeks but over the years. But we want to improve in Test cricket and in one-day version, we have been a force to reckon with in the T20 version, but yet still, before we enter any tournament or any game, they still talking a lot of negative stuff.
“And now, a lot of people should be honest with themselves and give credit where credit is due. We are a wonderful team, we play with passion and with love, not for ourselves but for the Caribbean people. Cricket means the entire world to them, just as cricket is in India, it is a religion,” Samuels added.
Samuels’s feet up antics was in stark contrast to what he says he is in life.
“I started a business, Playzone, because I am a family man and whatever business I am getting into, it has to be for family. My kids can enjoy, other people’s kids can play and hopefully many more people can come and enjoy,” he said.
Perhaps, the kids will do well to learn the good things from Samuels’s on-field batting and composure rather than his off-field behaviour.
DIGGING THE PAST
During a Big Bash match between Melbourne Stars (Warne’s team) and Melbourne Renegade (Samuels’ team), Samuels stopped David Hussey from running the second run. In reply, Warne, while fielding, threw the ball at Samuels and in return, the batsman tossed his bat over Warne’s head.
At the start of this year, during the third and final Test between Australia and West Indies at Sydney, Warne on air slammed Samuels for his “horrific” running.
Then, Warne tagged Samuels’s shot which led to his dismissal in the semifinal against India as “embarrassing” and “pretty poor”.