Taylor had edged out McCullum in a public process to become captain of New Zealand.
Taylor and McCullum, great mates having played domestically and internationally together, had their relationship compromised when the former was appointed skipper, edging out latter, in a public process to gain the leadership badge.
McCullum was left in great distress over how it all went. The wicketkeeper batsman felt rejecting one of the candidates by the public wasn’t healthy considering the duo were to spend time in the same team environment.
“That’s exactly what it was, shocking. And it some pressure on my friendship and relationship with Ross. I have a lot of development and under-age cricket with Ross. I was the captain of the U19 team and Taylor was my vice-captain. We’ve always got on really well,” McCullum was quoted as saying in the latest episode of Sky Cricket's Captain’s Log podcast series.
“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 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'."
Soon, however, Taylor was forced to relinquish his post having endured a torrid time as captain of New Zealand and McCullum took over as skipper across all formats.
"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.
Under McCullum, the Kiwis played an exciting brand of cricket and tasted unprecedented success at the highest level. They dominated their way till the final of the 2015 ODI World Cup, finishing runners-up to eventual winners Australia, and also enjoyed a fantastic run in Test match cricket. McCullum bid adieu to international cricket in 2016.