Interview with Samuel Badree

Samuel Badree won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup twice with the West Indies in 2012 and 2016. He was part of the starting XI in the final on both of those occasions with the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy. Samuel also played in the inaugural Pakistan Super League final in 2016 for the victorious Islamabad United team and was also part of their squad when they won it again in 2018.

Samuel was a legspinner who was regularly employed with the new ball as a T20 specialist. Nowadays he’s a commentator, particularly in the Caribbean region. He joined Abdullah from Trinidad where he was commentating on a fixture of the Caribbean Super 50 tournament on Thursday 27th November 2025. This was just two days after the fixtures and groups were revealed for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, a competition Samuel has fond memories of.

Questions I asked Samuel include:

• Which of the two T20 World Cup triumphs does he rate higher? 2012 or 2016?

• Which leggies does he enjoy watching in the modern game? Who did he look up to a leggie growing up?

• His experience of playing at Lord’s in May 2018 against the World XI (who he previously represented the year before!) in a match which carried international status.

• How did he get into cricket commentary?

• We also touch on cricket returning to Pakistan in the earlier seasons as Samuel was part of a World XI that toured Lahore in September 2017, the 2018 PSL final in Karachi and also the three T20 internationals that West Indies played in Karachi post that final. These were key early steps in the 2017-18 season that Samuel was a part of to help rebuild confidence in Pakistan’s ability to stage cricket safely after an extended period of operating in the UAE.

• We also touch on the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka (the two locations where West Indies have won their two T20 World Cups that Samuel played in).

• I finish by quizzing Samuel on whether he remembers how many international scalps he bagged!