Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor are two of the best batsmen to ever play for New Zealand. The dynamic duo took the New Zealand cricket to various heights with their aggressive game on the field.
It was McCullum, under which New Zealand cricket tasted the most of his success with his fearless approach. He guided the Kiwis to the final of 2015 ICC World Cup.
While former skipper Taylor has always been the backbone of the Kiwi side as he played 100 Test for New Zealand last month against India.
But after veteran Daniel Vettori stepped down from the captaincy role, the things were very complicated in New Zealand cricket board. Taylor and McCullum were in the leading position to take over the captaincy role.
The time period changed the equation between them as it hit their relationship very hard as McCullum opened up recently on the experience he had and termed it as a bad stain in New Zealand cricket.
"We had to go for an interview for the job. It was about presenting the map for the future of New Zealand cricket to a panel. I don’t really know what we were doing. If I had my time, I would’ve said No I’m not going to come and go through the process, you appoint Ross as captain and then we’ll see what unfolds from there, ’McCullum said on Captain's Log podcast series for Sky Sports.
Taylor was appointed the captain of New Zealand team at that time, but things didn't work in his favour as soon he stepped down from the role and McCullum took over him. Under Baz, New Zealand enjoyed a golden period.
"It’s a bad stain for New Zealand cricket and put pressure on Ross and me. Then it led me to eventually take over the captaincy from Ross," he added.
"I needed to think long and hard thought it. I knew it would be a major controversial decision. I knew it could have major ramifications on NZ Cricket, but also on my time as a player.
"Ross had turned down the Test captaincy role. I don’t know what happened the time. There was a lot of controversy. New Zealand Cricket has moved on from that time now," he said.
McCullum captained the New Zealand team in 31 Tests, 62 ODIs and 28 T20Is. He led the team to 60 wins across all formats, apart from the victories he built a team, which played fearless cricket in any condition. Kane Williamson is taking is legacy forward now as he recently beat India 2-0 in two-match Test series at home.
McCullum said he is not the best of friends with Taylor but still have a lot of respect for him.
"We are not best friends. I have immense amount of respect for him. He has lovely family, had a great career. He is at peace and content in his personal life. He has done really really well," McCullum said.
