“Royals owners slapped me across the face three or four times”: Ross Taylor reveals controversial story during IPL 2011 with Rajasthan Royals

New Zealand batter Ross Taylor played for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2011, and he has revealed a controversial story with them.

Ross Taylor recently retired from all formats of the game, and the ending of him in the test format was a moment to remember as he scalped a wicket on his very last ball. Taylor is considered one of the best to ever play the game for New Zealand cricket, and he had many records under his belt.

He recently released his autobiography which talked about a lot of things about his career, which included some controversies as well. One such controversy came in the IPL 2011, where he was playing with the Rajasthan Royals.

Ross Taylor reveals controversial IPL 2011 story

In his autobiography “Ross Taylor: Black & White”, Ross Taylor revealed a controversial story during the IPL 2011 campaign with Rajasthan Royals. Taylor was a part of Royal Challengers Banglore since IPL 2008, but he was bought by Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2011.

Taylor said it is always difficult to join a new team in the IPL as the new team won’t give you the backing after 3-4 bad matches. He cited the example of the Rajasthan Royals when he went out for a duck against Kings XI Punjab. He revealed that the owner of the Royals slapped him, those were not hard slaps but it was not professional at all.

“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. Afterward, the team, support staff and management were in the bar on the top floor of the hotel. Liz Hurley was there with Warnie,” Ross Taylor revealed in his book.

“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 added.

Taylor managed to score just 181 runs in the IPL 2011 for the Rajasthan Royals and was later released by the side. Delhi bought him in the next season.