Marlon Samuels get backing of his West Indian teammates on his comment about Shane Warne

Marlon Samuels played the innings of a lifetime in the final of the World T20 2016, making 85* in a tense chase and kept West Indies in the hunt, even though wickets fell all around him. He finally got the support of Dwayne Bravo and Carlos Braithwaite and along with them, Samuels took West Indies to their second World T20 title win.

He was also named the man of the match in the finals, replicating his achievement of the World T20 2012, where he had played another match winning innings against Sri Lanka in the finals. During the presentation, Samuels happened to mention Shane Warne in his speech, he said, “Every team I play for, Shane Warne has a problem with me. I don’t know what, I’ve never disrespected him, it seems he has a lot inside him that he needs to come out with. 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.”

All of the cricket fraternity knows about the rivalry between Warne and Samuels that started in the Big Bash League in Australia in 2013 when during a match, they indulged into a physical alteration. Warne threw the ball straight at Samuels who responded by throwing his bat in Warne’s direction.

The former Australian spinner had recently called Samuels’ batting style as boring and embarrassing and the West Indian replied to his comments in his speech. Samuels got the support of his coach Phil Simmons who said, “Former was quite touched at that moment and that his outbursts were the result of his emotions,one cannot keep bashing people and expect nothing in return, pointing out that Samuels’ statement came out at the correct time.”

Even captain Darren Sammy said that their team now has the right to air their opinions since they faced a lot of issues before the tournament and now that they had proved themselves, they could say anything they wanted.

Finally Sammy found some support – Sachin Tendulkar and other cricketing greats applaud Darren Sammy’s emotional speech