India opener Prithvi Shaw
India opener Prithvi Shaw recalled the cough syrup fiasco from 2019 and described it as a 'difficult' phase of his life. The Mumbai youngster dealt with a career hiccup after inadvertently ingesting a prohibited substance, commonly found in cough syrups.
In a release shared by the BCCI, Shaw was handed an eight-month suspension for a doping violation, The cricketer was tested as a part of BCCI’s anti-doping testing program during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match on 22nd February 2019.
"Shaw's sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline. Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In & Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances," read the BCCI release.
The 21-year-old batsman, who was sidelined from the national set-up for more than a year, remembered buying the cough syrup without consulting the physio, just three days before his doping test.
"I think dad and I are responsible for the cough syrup controversy. I remember we were playing the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Indore and I was down with a 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. 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," Shaw told Cricbuzz.
"I can't express them in words. But it was a very difficult time. I was reading about myself everywhere. I was worried about people's perception, I thought people were thinking that I was taking banned substances and drugs. I was there for 2 and half months. I was thinking about it every day because I was having a good phase but then suddenly it all went down," he added.
Despite returning to the national fold during the New Zealand tour, Shaw had to wait to regain his form. After an unimpressive Test outing in Australia and getting dropped from the Test set-up against England, Shaw looked like his old self in the recently-suspended IPL 2021.
He scored 308 runs in eight games for Delhi Capitals including the onslaught against KKR pacer Shivam Mavi. Shaw also had a brilliant Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year where he became the first batsman to score 800 runs in a single edition of the tournament.
