'I had a lot of things in my mind. I had to beat all those things. I was hungry for runs for the last three months.'
Talented Indian opener Prithvi Shaw, who slammed a double hundred on his return to competitive cricket, said he was keen to get back to form quickly after he was banned from cricket for a doping violation.
"I had a lot of things in my mind. I had to beat all those things. I was hungry for runs for the last three months. A lot of people pushed, supported me," Shaw, who made a match-winning 202 in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy lung opener against Baroda, said in Mumbai on Thursday.
Shaw was handed a back-dated eight-month suspension in July for a doping violation after ingesting a prohibited substance Terbutaline.
"You can't say that I wasted my ban period. I utilised it for training. Somewhere in my mind, I was keen to get back to my best form as soon as I returned from my ban," he said.
The 20-year-old Shaw was the chief guest at the prize distribution function of the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra, where he felicitated spinner Atharva Ankolarkar, who is in the Indian squad for the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.
Shaw said he wanted to build his innings and that's what he did in Baroda, when the opportunity came.
"The good thing was that I managed to continue even after getting my hundred. I was a bit slow between 100 to 150, because I wanted to build my innings, and play a big knock," he said.
Asked about his emotions on reaching his maiden 200, Shaw said, "I felt great. It came at the right time. I used to get out a lot of times between 100 and 150, which a lot of people have pointed out. I too felt that they were not wrong. So, it was a very good thing for me that I converted my hundred into a double hundred."
Shaw, under whose leadership India had won the previous Under-19 World Cup, also gave some tips to Ankolekar.
