Prithvi Shaw Thanks His Father And Rahul Dravid For Support During Ban Period

India’s young batting sensation Prithvi Shaw has announced his arrival in competitive cricket after serving a retrospective eight-month suspension by the BCCI for failing a dope Test. But that’s not the end of the story. Shaw wants to make up for the lost time on the field only to prove to be a viable case for himself as one of the finest batsmen.

He let his bat do the talking when he made a stellar rebound against Assam as smashed a 39-ball 63 to help his team beat the opponent by 83 runs in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game. The 20-year-old opening batsman Shaw has made his stance very clear when asked about his comeback to the national team.

Read More: Prithvi Shaw Hits Whirlwind Fifty On Return To Action

“Now I will focus on scoring as many runs as possible and win games for the team. I will just keep scoring runs. It is all about the selectors and what they think. My job is to score runs and win games for the team,” said Shaw.

Shaw expressed his ordeal about the ban period and he wants to forget it now because he never expected that something like this would happen. “I had never thought that something like this would happen. I was upset. For the first 20-25 days after I was banned, I was not able to understand how did it happen.

Time passed by. I went to London and chilled out there as I was not allowed to practice till September 15. After that, I stabilised myself and kept myself mentally stronger by telling myself these three months would pass. But each day was hard, it was getting longer. It’s all past now.”

Read More: Vikram Rathour Hints Prithvi Shaw Facing Tough Task For Reclaiming Test Spot

Prithvi Shaw credits his father and Rahul Dravid for support during the tough time:

Shaw credited former skipper Rahul David, head of cricket in Bangalore’s National Cricket Academy for helping him in his comeback.

“There was nothing in my mind. I couldn’t have done anything about the ban. After returning from London, Rahul (Dravid) sir called me to the NCA for training. There I went through a series of fitness tests like yo-yo. Under Rahul sir, a lot of focus was on fitness. I had to clear all my fitness tests.

What also helped was that during the nets good bowlers were available like Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvi (Bhuvaneshwar Kumar) and Varun Aaron. Besides, Rahul sir was always there for guidance and mental issues,” he said.

Shaw also gave special credits to his father who was always behind him during the toughest time. “In life ups and downs will be there. My father has stood behind me and nobody else is there. In these three months, he was with me like he has been during the U-14 and U-16 days. He felt that he needed to be with me,” he said.

Apart from his father Pankaj, a lot of cricketers and coaches also backed him during his turbulent time. “A lot of people were asking me about my well-being. I got a lot of love and support from a lot of people. A lot of players, coaches, my agency people, Indian Oil people, BCCI and MCA guys were asking how was I feeling,” he added.