Johnson Charles: 'My defence is an attacking shot. I just love attacking'

Johnson Charles was there in 2012 and 2016. Ten years later, he is back for more. One of the original members of the West Indies T20 dynasty sits down at the Wankhede Stadium to talk about his entry into cricket, what his mum taught him about batting (and why he ignores it), Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle, Carlos Brathwaite and also St Lucia, where if you don't want to go by the end of this interview, we'll give you access to our time machine (more of that later) and you can have these eight minutes back.

West Indies players have these cool origin stories. Can you tell us about yours?
Getting into cricket was basically in my blood. Because I could remember as far back as probably a five-six-year-old when we would be on the road. And everybody in West Indies cricket would, at some point, have played on the road. Road cricket or even gully cricket. I remember at that time we used to make... my brothers used to make the ball out of nylon. Or if not, that would be the last resort, we would use any fruit in season. Grapefruit, orange, sour orange, whatever.

And if we can't get that, then we use the nylon, burn it up, throw it into a ball and burn it up and wow, and play with that on the road. At that time, we would either use coconut branches for bats and shape them into a bat. If you get hit with these nylon balls, they're very hard.

They [my brothers] would tell you, either you get it and come out or (laughs)... You know, there was really and truly no partiality. So you really had to be tough growing up. But it was fun. It was very fun.

At what point did you think that, okay, I can actually do this for real?
I would probably say at the Under-19 point. I actually played Under-15 just one year for St Lucia because back in those days, technology wasn't prevalent. We didn't have cell phones at the time, so you had to actually listen to the radio if you had made the Under-15 side. At that point, we didn't even own a radio at home. So it was basically word of mouth passing around, which you wouldn't know. I actually played one year of Under-15, in the Windward Islands tournament that took place in Saint Lucia, then I played Under-19.

After that, I actually played for Windwards Under-19. And I knew then that I could actually make it through. But it was a matter of perseverance and a lot of resilience, to be honest, because I knew it wasn't going to be easy.

So, that boy grew up and walked right out of this very dugout in the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final against India. West Indies are 19 for 2. Jasprit Bumrah is at the top of the mark. You're winding up. First ball through midwicket for four.
At that time, I was very fearless, to be honest. It was basically a time in my career when my eye was just set on making an impact for West Indies on the international stage. And not looking sideways or back. It was just about looking forward and making an impact. I really love to play against big teams.

I remember back then, everybody used to talk about Bumrah and how he was to face. And my mantra was, if you can perform well against the best, then you have achieved something. It's not about performing against who is not that good. It's about performing against the best to put yourself and put your country at the highest stage. To be honest, I enjoyed that match.

And up to a day like today, it's one of the memories I have. I remember in that match, the whole stadium was blue. And "Kohli!" was the chant. You couldn't hear... even when we were in the dugout or in the dressing room, we could not hear if any of our team-mates were talking right beside us. Because the whole stadium was just chanting "Kohli!". Then he actually got me out (laughs).

But then when [Andre] Russell and [Lendl] Simmons started to launch, then you could actually hear what your team-mate was saying beside you. We knew that we had the match in the bag because we had silenced the crowd.

"Champagne flying. Chris Gayle doing the worm. This and that. It was mesmerising back in that dressing room. You know how Caribbean boys do it. When we party, we party. We love to party" Johnson Charles on the celebrations after the 2016 T20 World Cup win

You played with Marlon Samuels and when the chips were down, he was the guy standing up for West Indies. He has the two finals, he batted and bowled in the Super Over against New Zealand in 2012.
Marlon Samuels is no secret. To me, he's a legend. He has been the driving force in the big games, in all of the World Cups. He has been my friend. He actually mentored me when I first came in. Nobody would see it, but he would do it. I think he has not got enough credit for doing that.

I always poke him. I always poke him because he's a very interesting guy. I poke his mind and see what he is thinking. When the team asked, he always came up for the team, especially in the big moments. Let me tell you, I really rate him as a friend and as a team-mate.

You walked out there to open the batting with Chris Gayle. In 2012, after the England game where you scored 84, you said you would just give the strike to him, he would take care of it. But you also said you could hit the ball long just like him. Where does that confidence come from? Because England was just your second time batting in a World Cup
I have a lot of confidence in myself. Because I always believe that if I cannot do it, then no one would want to do it for me. So I must have confidence. And especially at this level, you can't come here without confidence. You must have confidence to face these great opponents.

When it comes to Chris Gayle, I know he's the greatest batsman. So my role at the time was all about giving him a chance to settle down. So the first two overs, I would have to go, get the bowlers under pressure and let him settle down and get in. And then once he gets in, I make way for him. If he gets out, then I take over. But that's what I had to do. So it was all about just sticking with the team plan and with that confidence, move forward.

So, again, does this confidence come from upbringing or school or the team environment?
I think first and foremost, it would be upbringing. But then it would be a mixture of everything. Like I said, from where I came from, it was a case where I know I have to do it and it won't be easy. I have to go through stuff. But then, as the challenges came and I battled them, I gained experience. And as I gained experience, I gained more confidence. Because when you start seeing what you have to do and what you have to go through, it toughens you, especially mentally.

If you can get strong mentally, that's half the work done. The other part is getting tough physically, which came naturally (laughs). It was everything just coming together. The family was always behind me and the community was always behind me. Seeing that I'm the first one to go that far, everybody was behind me. So it was the amalgamation of everything coming together.

How are your parents like?
They always supported me, especially mum. She always told me one thing and I still remember: keep your eyes on the ball. If the ball is a bad ball, hit it. If the ball is a good ball, defend it. But I don't know how to defend much. What can I say? I don't know [how to defend]. My thing is, my defence is an attacking shot. I just love attacking.

Carlos Brathwaite hit four attacking shots at a very important time. What was the feeling like in the dressing room?
We were very calm. I bet you, if you talk to our [current] coach, who was the skipper at the time or any of the senior players, they will tell you that the dressing room was calm. If you go back to that moment where everybody was in the dugout. If you look at the dugout, you wouldn't see much concern.

Because we were at a space in that moment where we know that people are in form, it's going to be okay. To be honest, there wasn't panic. We didn't know how it would happen, but we just knew it would happen. And it did.

When it started happening that spectacularly, were you guys rising with it?
Of course. You get that feeling from your toes coming up. That warm feeling, that bubbling feeling on that last ball. You run to the field. It's a great feeling. It's something that you can really express as you should. Great feeling.

Do you remember the celebrations afterwards?
Champagne flying. Chris Gayle doing the worm. This and that. It was mesmerising back in that dressing room. You know how Caribbean boys do it. When we party, we party. We love to party.

Sammy must have slept with the trophy?
We actually went down with the trophy. All on the plane, we had the trophy and we said we were just showing off. We were showing off to all the people on the flight. We were proud. We were the bosses. We were the bosses again. It was a lovely time.

After you went back home with the trophy, you had the governor general of St Lucia doing the champion dance.
Yeah, and we had that long motorcade from the South Airport right up to Derek Walcott Square. That was a sight.

Derek Walcott Square is named after one of our Nobel laureates. Every time we win, we congregate there with all the fans. It's always a wonderful feeling to just join the fans in the celebration. And when I got home, to be honest, it was just straight lights out.