‘RR owner slapped me across the face 3-4 times’ - Ross Taylor makes sensational claim from IPL 2011

Ross Taylor’s recently released autobiography “Black and While” continues to make headlines, with the former New Zealand batter pressing upon a number of controversial subjects during his illustrious career for the Blackcaps.

Taylor, who retired as New Zealand’s highest-run getter across formats earlier this year, opened up on the episode of what led him lose captaincy in 2012, while also giving a detailed record of racism he faced during his playing days.

In a chapter from the book published by stuff.co.nz, Taylor makes a startling revelation from his IPL days with the Rajasthan Royals back in 2011, when he was slapped in face multiple times after having been dismissed for duck in a game against the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Mohali.

Taylor, revisiting the incident, stated: "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.

“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 represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors across the first seven editions of the IPL. He scored 280 runs at 31.11 in RCB’s run to the 2009 final - his best aggregate in an IPL season.