Marlon Samuels

Marlon Samuels' talent was never in doubt. He made his Test debut at the age of 19 and was deemed a prodigy by many. Even at that stage, the comparisons with the likes of Sir Vivian Richards were abound. Like so many of his predecessors, Samuels too failed to cope up with so much attention early in his career.

This resulted in a career where the highlights were his off-field encounters rather than his on-field exploits. In 2002 he refused to abide by the rules and broke a team curfew on the tour of India. The team management toyed with the idea of sending him back, but eventually decided to let him off with a reprimand. Samuels reposed the faith placed in him with his maiden Test century in Kolkata. His career never really took off after that as injuries and form dips forced him to be in and out of the national team.

He came into the spotlight once more in 2007 when the Indian police alleged that Samuels had provided information to a bookie before the start of an India-West Indies ODI. He played in the 2007 World Cup even though the investigations were still on. His World Cup campaign in itself is remembered for the run out he was involved in with Brian Lara in the latter's last game for West Indies. The following year was even worse for Samuels.

His bowling action was reported as suspect and he was banned from bowling in international cricket until he managed to correct his action. A bigger blow was to follow as the ICC took into consideration the evidence provided by the Indian police over Samuels' involvement with bookies. He was found guilty of passing on information in exchange for monetary benefits. This resulted in a two-year ban from cricket and West Indies were left without a solid middle-order batsman in their rebuilding phase.

After serving the two-year ban, Samuels returned to the national team immediately after the 2011 World Cup. He had a good tour of Bangladesh and was one of the most consistent performers in the limited overs format. Samuels actually proved himself during the West Indies tour to England in 2012, where he accumulated 386 runs in just five innings, including a century and three fifties, against a top quality English bowling attack. Later that year, a gritty 78 by him in the final of the World T20 2012 against Sri Lanka helped West Indies to their first world title since 1979.

Samuels was also part of various T20 leagues in the year 2012. He was bought by Duronto Rajshahi and played the Bangladesh Premier League, and even was the team's highest run-scorer with 242 runs in 11 innings in the competition. In the same year, he signed a contract with Pune and represented them in the fifth and sixth IPL editions. The 2012 IPL clashed with Australia's tour of the West Indies, and Samuels was granted permission to skip the three-match Test series and play in the league. During the tournament, he was reported for having a suspect bowling action, and suspended from bowling for the rest of the competition. He then was selected to play for the Melbourne Renegades in the 2012-13 Big Bash T20 League in October 2012.

The hero of the winning campaign in Sri Lanka turned the villain in the 2014 T20 Cup in Bangladesh, sucking the momentum out of West Indies' chase via a painfully sluggish 29-ball 18 before rain knocked the defending champions out of the tourney on D/L rule.

Earlier, Samuels flopped in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series. After securing a pair in the first Test of the home series against New Zealand, Samuels even was dropped from the Test side. But, he made a strong case for himself by scoring heavily in ODIs. He scored two hundreds versus India and was recalled for the tour of South Africa. Samuels maintained his fine form by scoring a century in the second Test in Port Elizabeth. He was also one of the chief architects in the T20I series win over the same opposition. However, he could not replicate the same form in the following ODI series.

Marlon Samuels turned up on the big occasion again in the 2016 World T20 final - at Eden Gardens against England - where he slammed an unbeaten 85 off 66 balls and deservedly won the Man of the Match award. When England toured West Indies for a two-Test series in May 2015, Samuels was involved in a banter with Ben Stokes when he humourously sent off the batsman with a salute. His form in whites has been on the decline since and he was dropped after the series against Pakistan in October 2016.

After suggesting interest in a kolpak deal in county cricket, Samuels was called into the side for ODIs against England and is a part of the Windies squad that will play the World Cup qualifiers in March 2017 in Zimbabwe.

By Ganesh Chandrasekaran and CB Staff