Auckland: Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor has made sensational claims in his recently released autobiography Black & White. The book attracted eyeballs after Taylor revealed that he experienced racism in New Zealand Cricket during his 16-year international career. Earlier today, a chapter from Taylor’s biography was released on New Zealand’s website stuff.co.nz, in which Taylor has made some spine-chilling revelations about Rajasthan Royals owner. Taylor disclosed that he was “slapped” by the franchise’s owners after he got out for a duck during a game against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings).
“When you fetch that sort of money, you’re desperately keen to prove that you’re worth it. And those who are paying you that sort of money have high expectations – that’s professional sport and human nature. I’d paid my dues at RCB: if I’d had a lean trot, the management would have had faith in me because of what I’d done in the past. When you go to a new team, you don’t get that backing. You never feel comfortable because you know that if you go two or three games without a score, you come under cold-eyed scrutiny.
A case in point: Rajasthan played Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. The chase was 195, I was lbw for a duck and we didn’t get close. Afterwards, the team, support staff and management were in the bar on the top floor of the hotel. Liz Hurley was there with Warnie. One of the Royals owners said to me, ‘Ross, we didn’t pay you a million dollars to get a duck’ and slapped me across the face three or four times,” Taylor wrote.
Taylor represented Rajasthan Royals during the 2011 edition of the tournament. While he revealed that the owner didn’t mean those slaps, he said that he was surprised by such behavior at the professional level. “He was laughing and they weren’t hard slaps but I’m not sure that it was entirely play-acting. Under the circumstances I wasn’t going to make an issue of it, but I couldn’t imagine it happening in many professional sporting environments,” wrote Taylor.