'I didn’t step out of my room' – Prithvi Shaw opens up on cough syrup fiasco

The last few months have been an absolute roller-coaster in Prithvi Shaw’s life. After getting dropped from the national team for his poor show in Australia last year, the right-handed batsman returned to the domestic circuit and piled up a mountain of runs. The young dasher continued his stellar form in the now-postponed Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and played several match-winning knocks for Delhi Capitals.

Ageing 21, these are still early days in Shaw’s cricket career. However, the right-handed batsman has already seen many hiccups. After guiding India to the U-19 World Cup title in 2018, Shaw was added to the Indian Test team, and he made a mark straightaway with a century on debut against West Indies. However, a few months later, the youngster faced an eight-month ban after testing positive for a banned substance.

In a recent interaction, the batsman opened up about the entire cough syrup episode and how he dealt with it. Shaw took ownership of the incident and stated father responsible for it partly. The cricketer recalled being down with cold and taking the cough syrup after consulting his father. However, the youngster also admitted that he should have talked to the physio.

I was wrong on my part: Prithvi Shaw

“I think dad and I are responsible for it. I remember we were playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Indore and I was down with cold and cough at that time. So I had gone out for dinner and was coughing a lot. So I spoke to my dad. He asked me to take the cough syrup available in the market. What I did wrong was did not consult the physio, which was wrong on my part,” Shaw told to Cricbuzz.

The swashbuckler also revealed that he was worried about his image being hampered after the controversy. “I took that syrup for two days, and on the third day, I had my dope test. So that’s when I was detected positive for a banned substance. That was a really difficult phase for me, and can’t even express it in words. I was worried about my image, and what would people think about me. That is when I went to London, to stay away from all this. There too, I didn’t step out of my room much,” he added.

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