Sammy snub for CWI president
Pakistan’s successful return to hosting international cricket was completed when the national team defeated the ICC World XI to win the three-match Twenty20 International series 2-1 on Friday. However, the aftermath of the match has become a source of fresh controversy for one of the World XI players.
Darren Sammy, former West Indies captain, walked away from the medal distribution ceremony following the conclusion of the match after he spotted Dave Cameron, the president of Cricket West Indies (CWI), handing out the medals.
Sammy snubbed the Caribbean cricket board’s official by walking right out of the queue formed to collect their medals. His move signalled that all is still not well between the cricketers in West Indies and their officials, despite some recent steps ensuring that the big names return to the Caribbean side. Several of West Indies’ players including Sammy had been at the loggerheads with their cricket board. The matter had touched an embarrassing low after Sammy lambasted the then West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) officials during the presentation ceremony of the ICC World T20 2016 in India.
Sammy is the only captain in history to have won the ICC World T20 twice. Before guiding West Indies to a win in 2016, he had led them to their first title win in the 2012 edition organised in Sri Lanka. The 33-year-old was removed from captaincy in what he claimed was a ’30-second phone call’ from the chairman of selectors, who had informed him that he would not be a part of the West Indies team anymore.
“Throughout my captaincy, winning the two T20 World Cups has been the highlight. And these memories I will cherish for a long time. For now the captaincy has come to an end and thank you people. I just know I played with my heart and soul whenever I stepped out on the cricket field,” Sammy had expressed after being dropped.
Meanwhile, Sammy was also in news for featuring with a Pakistani journalist in a photograph that went viral on social media. Surprisingly, it was the PTV Sports anchor name Fazeela Saba who hogged all the limelight and not the cricketer. Nevertheless, Sammy already enjoys a lot of fan-following in Pakistan due to his exploits in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for Peshawar Zalmi.