Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor made a stunning statement in his book where he reveals the racial insensitivity in the New Zealand Team’s Dressing Room and he also mentioned in his book that one of the Rajsthan Royals Team owner slapped him during IPL 2011 because he got out on duck.
The incident happened in Mohali and match against Kings XI Punjab where during the chase Ross Taylor got out on duck and then in the pub Rajasthan Royals Owner slapped him 3-4 times on the face and he said we didn’t pay to get out on duck..
“The chase was 195, I was lbw for a duck and we didn’t get close,” Taylor wrote in his book, an excerpt of which was published on Stuff.co.nz.
“Afterwards, the team, support staff and management were in the bar on the top floor of the hotel. Liz Hurley was there with Warnie [Shane Warne]. 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. 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.”
“While it was amazing to go for a million dollars. In the long run I would’ve been better off if RCB had got me for US$950,000,” Taylor wrote. “If they had, it would have been my fourth year with them. While the IPL is pretty unsentimental, there is loyalty towards long-serving players. And I probably would have had a longer IPL career as a one-franchise player. On the other hand, if I’d stayed at RCB. I wouldn’t have played with greats such as Virender Sehwag, Shane Warne, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh.”
“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.”
