Veteran New Zealand batter Ross Taylor announced earlier today that he will retire from all formats of cricket after the home season of 2021-22. Ross is a 37-year-old middle-order batter who has played 110 Test matches, 233 ODIs and 102 T20I matches for the New Zealand cricket team so far.
Apart from that, he has also played in domestic cricket and T20 leagues across the world, taking his number of matches to 190 first-class matches, 303 List-A matches and 292 T20s. Now that Taylor has announced his decision to retire soon, here’s a look at five lesser-known facts about his career.
1. Ross Taylor is undefeated as captain in IPL
Not many fans would know that Ross Taylor is the only player in IPL history to have a 100% win record as captain. He made his captaincy debut for Pune Warriors against Chennai Super Kings and helped PWI win that match during the 2013 season.
2. He batted below Shane Bond in his first Test innings
Ross Taylor is a middle-order batter, while Shane Bond was a specialist fast bowler. However, when Taylor made his Test debut against South Africa, Bond batted at number four, while Taylor batted at number six.
3. He bowled four overs on T20 debut
The cricket universe might not have an idea about Taylor’s bowling skills. He is a right-arm off-break bowler, and in his first-ever T20 match for Central Districts against Canterbury, he bowled four overs, returning with figures of 0/20.
4. Ross Taylor won 3 Man of the Match awards in IPL
Taylor played for four franchises in his IPL career. He played for RCB from 2008 to 2010 and won two Man of the Match awards during the 2009 season of the IPL. In 2011, he moved to Rajasthan Royals and won the Player of the Match award against Pune Warriors.
5. Picked up all his international wickets in Ahmedabad
Taylor has picked up only two international wickets in his career so far. Both came in Ahmedabad in a Test against India. They were the wickets of Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth.
