Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has said that his personal fallout with star batsman Ross Taylor stemmed from the process that led to the latter taking over the captaincy from Daniel Vettori in 2011. Taylor had pipped McCullum as captain after Vettori stepped down following the 2011 World Cup after a lengthy deliberation.

"It put 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 U-19 team and Taylor was my vice-captain. We've always got on really well," McCullum said in a Sky Sports Podcast. "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.'