West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels retires from all forms of cricket

LONDON:  West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels has retired from professional cricket.

Samuels, who top-scored in both of their World T20 final victories, last played for West Indies in December 2018 against Bangladesh.

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, Samuels had informed Cricket West Indies (CWI) about his retirement in June this year, confirmed CWI chief executive Johnny Grave.

A key cog in Windies batting wheel, Samuels has been recently in the news for the wrong reasons.

Former Australia spinner Shane Warne in October had slammed Windies all-rounder Samuels for passing distasteful comments on him and England's Ben Stokes.

Earlier, Samuels in an Instagram story had abused both Stokes and Warne and the Windies all-rounder had also boasted of his superior skin tone. Samuels had also involved Stokes' wife in his comments and this resulted in wide outrage over social media.

Samuels' finest knock came in the 2012 T20 World Cup final in Colombo, when he launched an attack with his batting skills on premier bowlers Ajantha Mendis and Lasith Malinga to guide his side a win over Sri Lanka.

Across formats, he scored 11,134 international runs including 17 centuries, and scalped 152 wickets.

He also represented several T20 franchises around the world later in his career, including Pune Warriors, Delhi Daredevils in Indian Premier League (IPL), and Melbourne Renegades in Big Bash League (BBL).