India cricketer Prithvi Shaw has said that the time he spent away from the game due to a doping ban was “torture” for him.
In an interview with The Times of India, the 20-year-old, who spent most of 2019 on the sidelines due to the doping ban and an injury, reflected on the hardships he had to go through to get his career back on track.
Shaw was captain of the Indian team that won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2018. He seemed ready to achieve big things as he scored a century on his Test debut, but his young career suffered a dramatic derailment with the doping ban.
“I don’t think I got carried away,” Shaw was quoted as saying in the report. “Some things like the doping ban were within my control, but things like the unfortunate ankle injury [suffered in 2018 in Australia] were not in my control. I have realised that I cannot keep 100% people happy all the time.”
Shaw reflected on how he got tangled with the doping ban and the lessons he learnt from his time away from the game.
“You have to be careful about what you consume. Even a simple drug like paracetamol. This is for all the young cricketers out there who aren’t aware about these things. Even if you take a small medicine, you must get it approved with your doctor or the Board of Control for Cricket in India doctors. It’s better to ask the doctors about the banned substances and take necessary precautions so that you don’t get into trouble,” he said.
“Like in my case, I had a cough syrup which I didn’t know was a banned substance. I have learnt a lesson from this and will not repeat it. Even if I am having a basic medicine, I run that through the BCCI doctors to ensure that there are no banned substances in it. Time away from cricket was a difficult period for me. It was a torture. It should not happen to anyone,” Shaw added.