Did Prithvi Shaw train at the National Cricket Academy even after his suspension?
Mumbai: National Cricket Academy’s (NCA) Chief Operating Officer Tufan Ghosh has once again grabbed the headlines after he was caught napping for the second time since his appointment.
While Tufan continued to nap, 19-year-old Indian batsman Prithvi Shaw continued his training session despite getting suspended after he failed his doping test on July 16.
India’s opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan uploaded a photo on his Instagram account. The photo displayed Prithvi Shaw training with Shikhar Dhawan and Umesh Yadav
Ghosh pretending to ignore the matter, had told the IANS, "I don't have any comments. I am not the correct person please check with the BCCI resources." Ghosh even hanged the call after he was asked whether the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri informed him regarding Prithvi Shaw’s suspension.
A BCCI functionary had established that BCCI’s anti-doping manager, the legal team and Rahul Johri were well aware of the entire process, but despite their knowledge, Prithvi Shaw continued his training session.
The functionary described, "Honestly, these are the only people who were aware of it and ideally Shaw should have immediately been removed from the NCA or any other facility of the board."
Meanwhile, a BCCI official has stated that whatever is happening at the NCA currently shows how much unprofessional the academy is, and Shaw’s training session at the centre despite getting banned was further proof of the same.
"I think it is very clear that NCA is an island and its COO is an island within that island. It seems to be in a different dimension altogether than the rest of Indian cricket. The NCA has good resources for rehabilitation thankfully but a player coming to the NCA for rehab is like a tourist on that island for the administrative staff and their presence there justifies the existence of the island itself.”
"If you see any aspect over the last couple of years, you have inefficiency, conflict, incompetence writ large over the administrative activities of the NCA. Rahul Dravid remains the only hope for the moment but he too is required to report to the COO and that can be disastrous," the official lamented.
