Overview:
He admitted the controversy diverted attention from his team's memorable Test series win in India after 25 years.
South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad accepted his mistake for using the word grovel during the second Test match against India in Guwahati. He acknowledged that his controversial remark overshadowed his team’s Test series win in India. However, he mentioned that there was no malice behind his words. Conrad remarked after day four of the last Test when the Proteas were dominating the proceedings, but the term used by him led to strong reactions from former players.
“I never intended to cause any malice or not be humble. I could have used a better word, and I could have been smarter,” he said after the third ODI.
“People added their own context to the word, but what I intended was to make India spend time in the middle and make things tough for them,” he added.
Conrad will be careful of the language he uses in the public domain. “I am going to be careful in the future, but someone will attach context to what I say. It was a pity, and it spiced up the ODI series, with India winning. The T20 series becomes more important,” he mentioned.
He admitted the controversy diverted attention from his team’s memorable Test series win in India after 25 years.
“A lot of noise was made. I know it is not a good English word, but it took away the gloss from our special win in India. It was unfortunate, but I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”
Conrad added that his team believes in humility. “We believe in being humble. Unfortunately, the talk was centred around the coach. It is not important to know who the coach is. It should be about the ones who are playing. It should be put to bed now.”
Conrad was unhappy as South Africa failed to win the ODI series after their success in Test cricket.
“We had a chance to do something special. India lost both the Test series and the ODI series in the 1990s. They have world-class players. You can’t do much when Rohit Sharma is in this type of form.”
Virat scored two hundreds and a fifty and was declared the Player of the Series, while Rohit posted two fifties.