Kolkata: Carlos Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels together destroyed England’s hopes of emerging as the Twenty20 champions through a 54-run unbeaten partnership in 4.1 overs. Very little is known about Brathwaite except that Delhi Daredevils got him after a bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders. His base price was Rs3 million (Dh166,000), but he got sold for Rs 4.2 crores. (Dh42 million)!
Although Brathwaite idolises Rahul Dravid and Kevin Pietersen, his batting is more like the destructive Pietersen. He enthralled the crowd at Eden Gardens and made the whole of West Indies happy, but he had gone through a tough phase in 2011 when his mother was diagnosed from cancer. At that time he had shaved off his hair to express solidarity with his mother who was undergoing chemotherapy.
Brathwaite and Samuels have great regard for each other. When Brathwaite was asked about Samuels’ unbeaten knock of 85, he said: “It was an amazing knock from Samuels. I cannot describe his innings in words. Someone had to rise to the occasion and he did it.”
As for Samuels, he enjoys Brathwaite’s batting style. In fact Samuels had advised him that Ben Stokes can be hit. “I told Brathwaite that Stokes is a nervous lad. So I advised him to hold his pose since Stokes would be tempted to bowl a couple of full-tosses, and it worked in our favour. Brathwaite played a brilliant knock at the end there to give me a little breather at the other end.”
Samuels shocked everyone by walking into the press conference without removing his pads. Not only that, he put both his legs on the table and answered questions. Replying to a question whether any score or asking rate was a problem for West Indies to achieve, Samuels replied: “I think we’ve done it on many occasions. We believe in ourselves and we believe in each other. Whoever the next player is going out to bat, we believe that he can get it done as well. We stay calm, and the most important thing is we don’t panic in any situation...that is what we basically stressed upon as a team.”
Samuels was fined 30 per cent of his match fee by ICC at the end of the match for using abusive and offensive language directed at Stokes. When asked about it he said: “I keep telling him whenever he plays against me not to speak to me because I’m going to perform, but he doesn’t learn. Even when I hadn’t faced one ball he had so much to say to me today. So I knew I had to be right there till the end. That’s what I thrive on, that’s why I’m still around for so long, despite so many ups and downs. I’ve turned my life around in the last five years, dedicating every day that I wake up to god and my kids.”
