Controversy Strikes: Ross Taylor Slapped by Rajasthan Royals Owner

(Ross Taylor during his playing days for the Rajasthan Royals)

The Indian Premier League has been going on since 2008 and till now, it has become a part of entertainment for all the cricket lovers who just love to spend their evening seeing the best teams go against each other. Big scores, crucial wickets, flying catches, and many more things have made the IPL a hit worldwide. However, just like the on-field entertainment, there is a black side to the tournament which often goes unnoticed by the viewers as these things are hardly aired on television. One such instance that has been into the limelight is of New Zealand’s former star player Ross Taylor who faced backlash in the Indian Premier League season 2011 when he was slapped by the Rajasthan Royals team’s owner because of his poor performance.

What happened to Ross Taylor in 2011?

After spending three seasons with the team named Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Ross Taylor moved to the Rajasthan Royals for the 2011 IPL season and being an experienced batter, he was given the role to stabilise the middle order for the team. However, things weren’t as good for him as the RCB team and he struggled to make the runs because of the slow and tricky pitches of India which eventually tested his game here. Just like this, Rajasthan Royals were playing against Punjab Kings in the 23rd match of the season at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.

(Ross Taylor during a game for the Rajasthan Royals team)

While chasing a total of 196 runs in the 20 overs, the Rajasthan Royals team wasn’t able to start well but soon were stabilised as Shane Watson and Stuart Binny played well for the team. After a wicket when Ross Taylor stepped on the field, his duty was to rotate the strike and hence keep the scoreboard ticking. But instead of that, he was trapped in front by Piyush Chawla and was dismissed for a 5 ball-duck which resulted in a loss for the Rajasthan Royals team by 48 runs. This loss was a big one for the team and it wasn’t taken lightly by the team owners.

In his autobiography, Ross Taylor: Black & White, he has stated that the loss against Punjab Kings was a tough one to bear up as a team and for the owners. Furthermore, he stated that while sitting with Shane Warne, one of the owners of Rajasthan Royals came up and slapped him 3-4 times in a light manner and told them that they weren’t paying him a million dollars to go out and get a duck in the matches played by the team.

(Ross Taylor and Johan Botha batting together for the Rajasthan Royals team)

“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 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.”

He further went on to mention that it was ideal for him to stay at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and be with the players who respected him and even the owners who loved to be a part of that management. But the way he went to Rajasthan and got to meet some of the greats of the game after leaving the Bangalore team also highlights the peak point of his career as he got to meet some of the best players like Virender Sehwag, Shane Watson, Shane Warne and many more who helped him to elevate his career to reach new heights.

(Ross Taylor and the owners of the Rajasthan Royals in 2011)

“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. 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.”

In the end, he finally admitted the fact that it was the high price-tag pressure that got the better of him during his time at the Rajasthan Royals. However, to this slapping incident, there wasn’t any proper story shared by the Rajasthan Royals team and hence it was only stated in the book written by Ross Taylor after retiring from the game.

“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.”

Ross Taylor’s IPL Career

New Zealand has been a cricketing country that has produced some of the best players in the game along with being the gentleman on the field. Because of their behaviour, the team has been labelled as the best and hence have been successful at the International level. One such player who has been the servant of New Zealand cricket and given the best memories to the fans is Ross Taylor who is currently New Zealand’s highest run scorer in the ODI Format while in the second position in the list of top run-scorers for the team in the Test format.

In 2008, Ross Taylor came into the IPL Auction and he was finally signed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore team and managed to play a total of 3 seasons with the team. Having teammates such as Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis and many more, it was an amazing time for him and hence the team even made it to the Finals of the league in 2009. In the 31 matches played by Ross Taylor for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, he scored 733 runs while averaging 31.86 with the bat and had a strike rate of 148.68 for the team.

(Ross Taylor playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2009 season)

With the end of the 2010 IPL season, it was the time for a Mega Auction and Royal Challengers Bangalore released Ross Taylor here. In the auction, Ross Taylor was bought by Rajasthan Royals for a big amount of USD 1 million which made the news and hence the expectations were big from the fans and the owners of the team. With Shane Warne being the captain of the team, he placed his trust in him to bat in the middle order and hence be a complete package for the team whenever they were in any form of trouble during the match.

But the whole tournament went on the opposite side for the New Zealand star player as in the 12 matches played by him, he was able to score just 181 runs with an average of 36.20 while managing a strike rate of just 119.07. The whole season was a poor one for him and in many matches, he wasn’t even able to score at a 100 strike rate which eventually made it tough for the Rajasthan Royals to do well during the middle overs of the game.

(Ross Taylor playing for the Rajasthan Royals in 2011)

With such a poor show at the Rajasthan Royals, the management decided to release him for the upcoming year and hence Ross Taylor was back in the Auction pool for the 2012 season of the Indian Premier League. Coming to Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the 2012 season, Ross Taylor again started playing in the middle order for the team and the team finished at the top of the points table. However, they weren’t able to win the trophy and in the whole season, Ross Taylor was able to score just 197 runs from the 12 matches played while averaging just 19.70 with the bat and a strike rate of 115.20.

In the 2012 season, Delhi Daredevils did well but weren’t able to get things done in the middle order which was the reason why they failed in the knockout matches. Because of this, Delhi Daredevils decided to trade Ross Taylor with the Pune Warriors India who needed a middle order batter to handle the things well and hence eventually help them to score at a consistent pace in the middle overs to help the team achieve a bigger target.

(Ross Taylor playing for Delhi Daredevils during the 2012 season)

When Ross Taylor went to Pune Warriors India in 2013, he was even the captain of the team in a few matches for the team. However, his performance was again not up to the mark as the team finished at the 8th position in the points table and hence was not able to qualify for the playoffs. In the 5 matches played by him, he managed to score just 63 runs for the team while having an average of 12.60 and a poor strike rate of 82.89 and was eventually dropped from the team. Considering his form and the way he played for the Pune Warriors team, he was finally back into the IPL Auction because of the Pune Warriors team being dissolved due to some issues.

With the 2014 IPL Auction, Delhi Daredevils again showed their interest in buying Ross Taylor back and giving him another chance to prove himself in the middle order of the team. However, in the whole season for the team, he managed to play just 4 matches in the League stage of the tournament where he had 59 runs to his name while managing a strike rate of 100 and an average of less than 20 which means he was again released by the team for the upcoming season.

(Ross Taylor playing for Pune Warriors India during the 2013 season)

In the whole IPL Career of Ross Taylor, he managed to play for 4 different franchises in a span of 7 years and it was only in Royal Challengers Bangalore where he played for a single team for two consecutive seasons. In 55 matches played by him in the Indian Premier League, he managed to get only 1017 runs with an average of 25.43 and a strike rate of 123.72. After the 2014 season, he went unsold in the auction and never featured in an IPL game after that.

YEAR	Matches	Not Out	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Balls Faced	Strike Rate	100	50
Career	55	14	1017	81	25.43	822	123.72	0	3
2014	4	1	59	43*	19.66	59	100.00	0	0
2013	5	0	63	19	12.60	76	82.89	0	0
2012	12	2	197	55	19.70	171	115.20	0	1
2011	12	6	181	47*	36.20	152	119.07	0	0
2010	7	3	88	31*	22.00	75	117.33	0	0
2009	11	2	280	81*	31.11	208	134.61	0	1
2008	4	0	149	53	37.25	81	183.95	0	1

(Ross Taylor’s IPL Career)