Prithvi Shaw, the U-19 World Cup-winning captain of India was considered as the next big thing. He had a great start to his international career as he started with a century against West Indies. However, after that, he had to face injuries as well as poor form too.

While the Mumbai youngster had suffered an ankle injury during the Australia tour, He also tested positive for using a banned substance after that, for which he had to face a ban from cricket for eight months as well. While talking to Cricbuzz recently, Shaw has shared about the toughest phase of his career and also revealed how he dealt with it as well. Shaw also opened up on how the entire cough syrup fiasco happened.

“Till New Zealand tour I was in a happy space. Basically, I was feeling okay, and then I did decently in IPL too in 2020. 2018-19 Australia series was something I was really looking forward to. And then suddenly this ankle injury happened. The physios and team management were trying to keep me ready for the third Test, but the recovery progress stopped after a point. I was in a lot of pain, and was really sad. But these sort of things keep happening, and this is what the players and support staff tried to explain me,” Prithvi Shaw added.

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“After I came back, I started my treatment, and played the IPL. But then this cough syrup controversy came up. 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 market. What I did wrong was did not consult the physio, which was wrong on my part,” he again shared.

“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 in words. I was worried about my image, and what would people think about me. That is when I went for London, to stay away from all this. There too, I didn’t step out of my room much,” Prithvi Shaw expressed.

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However, Shaw returned with a bang in the domestic tournament and emerged as the leading run-getter in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. And, then he maintained his rich form in the Indian Premier League as well where he scored more than 300 runs before the league got suspended due to COVID-19.