Former New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor claimed that the owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) slapped him after he was out for a duck in an IPL match against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Mohali in the 2011 season of IPL. Ross Taylor wrote about this incident in his autobiography ‘Ross Taylor: Black and White’. He also revealed that he preferred to play from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). It is notable that in the initial three years of the IPL, Taylor played from RCB, but in 2011, RR bought him for $1 million.
Narrating the incident in which the RR owner slapped him, Ross Taylor wrote that Shane Warne and her partner Liz Hurley were present at the bar on the top floor of the hotel, along with other players and management staff of the team. It was the 23rd match of the season, and Punjab had placed a gigantic 195/7 on the scoreboard, thanks to Shaun Marsh’s 71-run knock. The Royals were no match for Punjab on the day, finishing their 20 overs on 147/7 with no batsman able to score big. Taylor had departed for a duck after five balls.
Ross Taylor wrote, “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.” Taylor went on to say that he was startled to see something like this happen in a professional sporting arena.
Explaining more on this, Ross Taylor said, “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 a 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 further said, “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’s book was previously reported to have disclosed the racist occurrences in the New Zealand dressing room.
Ross Taylor didn’t name the team owner who had slapped him. It is notable that Manoj Badale of Emerging Media IPL Limited is the majority owner of the Rajasthan Royals IPL team. Others having ownership of the team are Bluewater Estate Limited’s Lachlan Murdoch and US-based private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners. Some of the shares are still in the name of legendary leg spinner Shane Warne who passed away in March this year.
