Robin Uthappa, the India batsman, has spoken up about his battle with epilepsy while growing up which led to his fluctuating body weight, an obstacle he had to overcome in his progression as a professional cricketer.

Uthappa, who represented India at the 2004 U19 World Cup, made it to the senior team in 2006, quickly earning plaudits as a hard-hitting batsman, a trait which played a key part in India’s 2007 T20 World Cup triumph.

Speaking on the chat show Homerun with AV on the Gethist Creative YouTube channel, Uthappa revealed how the use of steroids, as part of his medication, altered the way he grew up, leaving him with a short torso and relatively long limbs and making people question the legality of his age.

“As a kid, one of the things that probably stunted my growth a little bit was the fact that I went through epilepsy,” Uthappa said. “I had to take medication for that, which alters with your hormones quite a bit. Between the age of 11 and 13 and a half, I was taking these steroids that were playing a little bit of havoc with my hormones and my system, so it kind of altered the way I grew up. It’s something I had to deal with. I was anyway a strong guy, but then the fact that I put on weight even made people question the legality of my age.

“I suddenly seemed bigger but not a lot of people knew I was going through epilepsy and was taking medication for it.”

Uthappa, who represented India in 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is before falling out of favour in 2015, had to deal with oscillating weight as he progressed through the ranks, which still dictates the way he approaches training. Recently, he had also spoken up about his fight with clinical depression, and how cricket helped him keep his mind away from suicidal thoughts.

“There are times I have to keep bobbing between putting on weight and losing weight,” Uthappa said. “There are times when I have had a very long season and I really want to switch off. But I know that when I switch off and if I let myself go, I have to work doubly hard when I get back to training. I take a break from the game but I am not taking a break physically.

“There are times when I let myself go and say ‘this couple of weeks I am actually going to eat what I want to eat, have fun, and switch off mentally and physically’, knowing fully well that once those two weeks get over I have to not only get back to training but I also have to lose maybe three-four kilos. That’s why people see that up and down in [my] weight.”