When Ross Taylor realised Indians liked watching Rahul Dravid more than tigers

In
his
autobiography
‘Ross
Taylor:
Black
And
White’,
the
legendary
New
Zealand
cricketer
revealed
how
during
his
trip
to
Ranthambore
National
Park
to
spot
a
tiger,
he
saw
the
fans
were
more
interested
in
watching
Dravid
than
the
tiger.

As
reported
by
stuff.co.nz,
Taylor
wrote
in
his
autobiography,
“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.
Jake
Oram
had
been
out
in
the
morning
–
no
joy.
There
was
some
baseball
game
on
TV
that
he
wanted
to
watch
so
he
didn’t
come
with
us
on
the
mid-afternoon
safari.
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.”

Slapped
me
3-4
times
after
I
fell
for
a
duck:
Ross
Taylor’s
tell-all
against
IPL
team
owner

“We
pulled
up
beside
the
other
vehicles,
open-top
SUVs
a
bit
bigger
than
Land
Rovers.
The
tiger
was
on
a
rock,
a
good
100
metres
away.
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
further.
there
are
almost
4000
tigers
in
the
wild,
but
there’s
only
one
Rahul
Dravid,”
he
wrote

In
his
book,
the
former
Kiwi
cricketer
also
made
some
shocking
revelations
about
his
time
spent
with
RR
and
opened
up
about
how
he
had
been
slapped
after
getting
out
for
a
duck.
While
making
the
shocking
revelation,
Taylor
did
soften
the
blow,
by
adding
that
the
slaps
were
not
hard,
but
could
have
been
‘play-acting’.

Ross
Taylor
reveals
how
racial
remarks
in
New
Zealand
dressing
room
offended
him

Taylor
revealed
that
the
incident
occurred
after
he
fell
for
a
duck
during
Rajasthan
Royals’ chase
against
Punjab
Kings,
then
known
as
Kings
XI
Punjab.
With
a
tough
ask
on
the
board,
the
Royals
suffered
a
big
blow
as
Taylor
fell
for
a
duck
in
the
crucial
fixture.

Following
his
dismissal,
one
of
the
owners
of
the
Rajasthan
franchise
slapped
him
across
the
face.
Taylor
added
that
though
the
slaps
weren’t
hard,
he
wasn’t
too
sure
that
it
was
all
play-acting.

Taylor
wrote
further,
“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.”