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Samuels criticised for racist reply to Stokes' harmless comment

Stokes, who is currently playing for the Rajasthan Royals franchise in IPL ecently spoke about the challenges and demands of staying in quarantine, joking that he would not wish it for even his 'worst enemy'-- Samuels.

Ben Stokes

Bengaluru, October 28: Former West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels has been criticised for coming up with a rather racist reply at old rival Ben Stokes for what looked like a a light-hearted comment from the England all-rounder.

Stokes, who is currently playing for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) recently spoke about the challenges of staying in quarantine, joking that he would not wish it for even his 'worst enemy'.

Samuels's rivalry with Stokes dates back to 2015, when he mocked the Englishman with a send-off salute in a Test match in Grenada. The pair once again clashed at the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup final in India where Samuels was the non-striker when Carlos Brathwaite hit four sixes off Stokes in the final over to en route to clinching the title.

Stokes had to remain in quarantine in hotel rooms in Auckland and Dubai in recent months as part of the health guidelines in place during travel at the time of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

"I posted a few Instagram stories and some of the England boys were messaging me asking what it's like and I was saying it wasn't the most enjoyable thing you ever have to do, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," Stokes recently said in an IPL podcast.

"I text my brother saying the same thing, and my brother asked, 'You wouldn't even do that to Marlon Samuels?' I said 'no, it's that bad' - that's how tough it was," he added.

However, Samuels did not take Stokes' comments lightly and took to Instagram, mentioning Stokes' wife in a derogatory manner and said that "none of yall knows me."

This has created a controversy with former captain Michael Vaughan, who is a television pundit these days, slamming Samuels for giving a racist twist to what he felt was just harmless banter.

"This is appalling @marlonsamuels ... we are trying to stamp out racism... !! A bit of banter by @benstokes38 should not lead to this," Vaughan tweeted.

On the field, Stokes has hit form after a slow start to his IPL 2020 campaign scoring a brisk hundred to lead Royals to an eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians, which kept their play-off hopes alive.

Royals, who are still languishing seventh in the table, have a do-or-die match coming up on Friday (October 30) against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Story first published: Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 16:05 [IST]
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