Marlon Samuels, the West Indies batsman who top-scored in both of their T20 World Cup final victories, announced his retirement from professional cricket on Wednesday.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the 39-year-old had informed Cricket West Indies (CWI) about his retirement in June this year, having last played for his country in December 2018 against Bangladesh.
Samuels, who was recently embroiled in a controversy with Ben Stokes, came into the limelight after his match-winning knock in the 2012 World T20 final in Colombo. His quickfire 78-run knock off 56 balls against Sri Lanka and his 1/15 with the ball helped the Windies seal a comfortable win.
In the 2016 World T20 final in Kolkata, Samuels became the only man to be named as the player of the match in two ICC finals after hitting an unbeaten 85 off 66 balls to seal a four-wicket win against England.
Samuels, who began his international career way back in 2000, also represented several T20 franchises around the world later in his career, including Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors, Melbourne Renegades, and Peshawar Zalmi.
During a controversy-filled career, Samuels had to serve two-year ban for corruption. In 2008, he was banned by the ICC after he was found guilty of “receiving money” and bringing the “game of cricket into disrepute”.
Six years before that, he was almost sent home for defying a team curfew in India. He was also banned from bowling for a year after his action was found to be illegal in 2015.
Samuels, who has played 71 Tests, 207 ODIs, and 67 T20s at the international level, has scored 11,134 international runs including 17 centuries across all formats. He also has 152 international wickets to his name.
Source: The Indian Express