“I broke down in front of the team”: When Shane Warne was banned from playing in 2003 ICC World Cup after a failed drug test

Shane Warne was banned from playing in the 2003 ICC World Cup after he failed a drug test ahead of the competition.

Australian legend Shane Warne has always been under some or other kind of controversies. Recently he revealed that Salim Khan offered him a bribe in 1994 for bowling poorly. However, he rejected that and was awarded Man of the Match in that test.

One of the most famous controversies of Shane Warne was during the 2003 ICC World Cup. Warne failed a drug test ahead of the tournament and the Australian Cricket Board banned him for 12 months. Warne was tested positive in taking drugs hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride, both diuretics. These are normally used to aid temporary weight loss and can act as a masking agent to enhance performance. However, Warne said that he did not take any steroids and he wasn’t aware that the tablets were diuretics.

“The tablet I took on January 21 was a fluid tablet, I did not know it was a diuretic,” Warne said.

“I knew it as a fluid tablet.”

“It had nothing to do with cricket or trying to mask anything, it had to do with appearance.”

Earlier it was a 24 months ban, but then it was reduced to 12 months by the board. However, despite Warne’s absence, Australia won the trophy by beating India in the finals. Although, Shane Warne did not play a single ODI for Australia after that.

Tested positive for a diuretic – he is taking his attempts to emulate Shane Warne a step too far https://t.co/kUgzm03W6R

— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) December 27, 2015

Shane Warne broke down while addressing the teammates

In an interview with Fox Sports, Warne revealed that the board asked him to address the teammates. He said that he broke down while apologizing to his teammates.

“Cricket Australia make the decision to send me home, so I have to address the team, which was really hard because as I said I’m anti-drugs, I don’t do them, never touched them,” Warne said in an interview for Fox Cricket.

“Apologising to them just on the eve of the World Cup was I felt so bad to unsettle their groove because we were all on the journey to try win that World Cup. I broke down (in tears) in front of the team. It was tough.”

In test cricket, Shane Warne took 708 wickets and was the first bowler to reach 700 test wickets. Warne also has 293 ODI wickets under his belt.