Which is really weird, because didn't he take about a thousand runs off the last five overs of a WC game against Pakistan in 2011?
I just deleted a post talking about his transformation as a player (and negative transformation as a big hitter) as I felt I was just rehashing the same old stuff and it was pointless over-analysis....
In short, yes, and it wasn't just that- for most of his career Taylor was known as a potentially very effective "flick the switch" type player who could open the shoulders and go mad when required.
His domestic T20 record has deteriorated but he used to be a hot commodity at that level for that very reason. He would also break it out at test level, such as test centuries against England in 2008 and Australia in 2009/10.
I think because of his role as a senior batsman from relatively early in his career, with high expectations on him, he didn't necessarily always play those type of innings in international cricket. More than anything his hitting ability tended to manifest itself in him getting himself out from time to time going for the big shot, which led to criticism. I personally think he was very much capable of playing the McCullum/Guptill type "go mad" innings but perhaps the needs of the NZ team circa 2006-2012 were a little different to what they are now.
However, since the 2012 captaincy saga he has come back as a generally better-than-ever batsman yet he is, by modern standards, utterly one-paced and tends to delay hitting out for as long as possible and usually hole out when he tries. It's hard to know how much of this is due to him working so hard on being as "tight" as possible that he's lost the ability to flick through the gears, and how much may actually be due to declining hand-eye.
Just watching him bat, and watching him drop slip catches, there is a pretty decent theory that he might actually have minor eye problems that he is battling through via a tighter technique and mentality. This theory was given some validity when it was revealed that, at least during the first test v Aus, he DID have some eye problems. It was only reported as him having had these problems during that test but it would be easy to suspect it's been an ongoing problem.
