“We didn't pay you a million dollars to get a duck” - 5 revelations made by Ross Taylor in his autobiography

Former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor has been in the limelight for his new autobiography, ‘Ross Taylor: Black & White’, which has opened a Pandora’s box. From alleged racism in New Zealand cricket to his sacking as captain and his experience in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Kiwi legend has opened up in detail about his cricketing journey.

The 38-year-old announced his international retirement towards the end of 2021. His last match for New Zealand was an ODI against the Netherlands in Hamilton in April this year. The right-handed batter finished his illustrious international career with 112 Tests, 236 ODIs and 102 T20Is.

Taylor holds the record for having scored the most number of runs for New Zealand in international cricket. In 450 matches across the three formats of the game, he amassed 18,199 at an average of 42.72 with 40 hundreds and 93 fifties.

With Taylor grabbing the headlines, this time for his book, we look at five revelations made by the former cricketer in his autobiography.

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#1 “One of the Royals owners slapped me across the face three or four times”

Ross Taylor during his stint for for Rajasthan Royals in 2011. Pic Credit: Emirates24/7

Taylor represented the Rajasthan Royals (RR) during the Indian Premier League 2011 season. Recalling his time with the franchise, he claimed that he was “slapped” by one of the owners after getting out for a duck.

In his book, excerpts of which have been published on Stuff.co.nz, the former Kiwi skipper recalled that the incident took place after RR went down to Kings XI Punjab in a match in Mohali. He wrote:

"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 [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 added:

“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.”

Taylor, who represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2008 to 2010, felt that he would have had a longer IPL career had he stayed with the franchise. He wrote:

"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 USD 950,000. 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.”

At the same time, he admitted that if he had stayed with RCB, he wouldn't have played with greats such as Virender Sehwag, Shane Warne, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh.

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#2 “They wanted to ambush me” - Taylor opens up on captaincy controversy

Mike Hesson with Ross Taylor. Pic: Getty Images

In his book, Taylor also took a dig at former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson over his unceremonious exit as captain. The Kiwi legend recalled Hesson telling him that he was "a follower, not a leader", after which Brendon McCullum was named the new skipper.

Looking back at the tough period of his career, the 38-year-old alleged:

"There was method in that, they wanted to ambush me for me not to make their job harder. What person would stay on when their coach has said that?.”

He further wrote that the way he was treated put immense mental pressure on him, due to which he was unable to sleep for more than two-and-a-half hours a night leading up to a Test match. The star batter recalled in his book:

"To go out there on that lack of sleep and bat for seven or eight hours... I still don't know how I did it really. That was tough but I think it was harder afterwards knowing what had gone on."

Taylor admitted that he eventually did receive an apology from New Zealand Cricket (NZC), but did not feel it was sincere.

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#3 “A brown face in a vanilla line-up”

Ross Taylor with teammates and family members ahead of his final international match. Pic: Getty Images

The first big revelation to come out of Taylor’s new autobiography was his shocking claim regarding racism in New Zealand cricket.

The Kiwi great, who has Samoan heritage on his mother's side, termed cricket in New Zealand "a pretty white sport", adding that the racism he experienced inside the dressing rooms was perhaps considered mere "banter" by those involved in it.

Sharing his uncomfortable experiences, he opened up in his book and wrote:

"Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport. For much of my career I've been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up.”

He added:

"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A team-mate used to tell me, 'You're half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don't know what I'm referring to.' I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity.

Taylor further wrote:

"In all probability, a Pakeha [white New Zealander] listening to those sorts of comments would think, 'Oh, that's okay, it's just a bit of banter.' But he's hearing it as white person and it's not directed at people like him. So, there's no pushback; no one corrects them. Then the onus falls on the targets."

On why he did not raise the issue earlier, the former cricketer explained that he was wary of being accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter into racism.

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#4 “Just bat like you’re eating prawns” - Sehwag’s unique advice to Taylor

Ross Taylor (center) with Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh. Pic: Getty Images

Taylor represented the Delhi franchise in IPL 2012. He struggled for rhythm in one of the matches when teammate Virender Sehwag advised him to bat as if he was eating prawns.

The Indian legend’s advice came after he had seen the Kiwi enjoying eating prawns at his restaurant on the eve of the game.

Recalling the amusing incident, Taylor wrote in his book:

"We had a memorable night at Sehwag’s restaurant. A lot of the guys liked their football so we were watching Manchester City play Queens Park Rangers on a big screen.

"It was the final round of the Premier League and Sergio Agüero scored in stoppage time to give City a 3–2 win and their first title for 44 years. The food was fantastic, particularly the prawns. I couldn’t stop eating them but didn’t realise Sehwag was aware that I was making a pig of myself.”

Continuing the story, Taylor said that, during the match, Sehwag smacked the ball to all parts of the ground, making batting look easy. However, the overseas batters were struggling. The Kiwi admitted that he was nervous because he was being paid a lot of money and had to deliver. He added:

“The pressure was on when I went in to bat, but Sehwag was so relaxed: he glove-punched me and said, 'Ross, just bat like you’re eating prawns.' It was like cricket was a hobby and he was just playing for fun. From then on, whenever our paths crossed, he would remind me about the prawns.”

Taylor scored 197 runs in 12 games for Delhi during the IPL 2012 season, registering a highest score of 55.

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#5 “4000 tigers in the wild, but only one Rahul Dravid”

Rahul Dravid (left) and Ross Taylor. Pics: Getty Images

During his stint with RR in IPL 2011, Taylor and Rahul Dravid went to Ranthambore National Park to spot a tiger. He revealed that, during the trip, the public who were there were more interested in Dravid than in spotting a tiger.

Sharing details of the visit, the former cricketer wrote in his book:

"I asked Dravid, 'how many times have you seen a tiger?' He said, 'I've never seen a tiger. I've been on 21 of these expeditions and haven't seen a single one.' I thought, 'What? 21 safaris for zero sightings.' Seriously, if I'd known that, I wouldn't have gone. I would've said, "No thanks, I'll watch the Discovery channel.

“It wasn't long before our driver got a radio call from a colleague to say they'd found T-17, a famous, tagged tiger. Dravid was thrilled: 21 safaris without seeing as much as a tiger turd, but half an hour into number 22 he'd hit pay dirt,” the Kiwi great wrote.

He recalled that the tiger was on a rock, a good 100 meters away. What happened next was what grabbed the New Zealand cricketer’s attention. He concluded the story as follows:

“We were stoked to see a tiger in the wild, but the people in the other vehicles immediately aimed their cameras at Rahul. They were as excited to see him as we were to see the tiger. Maybe more: across the globe there are almost 4000 tigers in the wild, but there's only one Rahul Dravid.”

Taylor played 12 matches for Rajasthan during the IPL 2011 season, scoring 181 runs at an average of 36.20 and a strike rate of 119.07.

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