Marlon Samuels just a normal kid, really

Former Australian player, on morning after the T20 final Marlon Samuels is walking in the hotel foyer in Kolkata. It’s the morning after the night of his life. He is sporting a chiselled body, tattooed arms, and the big smile of victory. It’s a few hours after Lawson’s incredible character assassination of the man on a breakfast show in Australia. There seems to be two prevalent views floating about Samuels. His harshest critics say he acted like a lout, giving the lip to Ben Stokes, taking a shot at Shane Warne, stripping his shirt, and taking pot-shots at his naysayers with his feet up on the table at the post-final media interaction. A few, like Lawson, have gone beyond the pale. Some others have succumbed to classifying him under the stereotyped Caribbean swagger, calling him a ‘badass’, which is intended as a sort of compliment. There is also a third view out there, from the people who know him well. That Marlon Samuels is a moody, emotional boy-man, living his life through the debris of slights, hurts, backbiting, and finding solace in himself, cocooned in his small trust circle, and spending most of his time with his kids, and his dogs.