Shukri Conrad addresses controversial 'grovel' comment during second Test

Speaking at the close of play on Day 4 in Guwahati, with South Africa in pole position for the win, Conrad said that the reason for their delayed declaration was because they “wanted them (India) to really grovel”.  

This was not appreciated by the Indian community, who felt it mirrored comments by England captain Tony Greig about the West Indies in 1976, which were believed to have racist undertones, and Conrad admitted in hindsight he could have used better words. 

"I think, on reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything, I could have chosen a better word upon reflection because it left it open to people putting their own context to it," said Conrad.

"Where the only context I ever intended it to be was for India to spend a lot of time and make it really tough for them, and I've got to be careful what word I use here now because [adverse] context could be attached to that as well.

"So it's really a pity – maybe what it did do is spice up the ODI series, especially with them winning that now, and the T20 series becomes even more so.

"But ja, the unfortunate thing is that, with all the noise that that word caused – although I still think it's a perfectly good English word, but like I said, I just left it open to too many interpretations – what it did was take away the gloss of what was a really special win for our Test team."

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The all-formats coach also expressed his hopes that any further discussions will come to an end now that he has addressed the matter in its finality, with attention returning to the pitch.

"Like I said, there was definitely no malice intended – being humble is a cornerstone of our Test team, and all our teams for that matter," he added.

"All the talk became around the coach, when people shouldn't really even know who the coach is, it should be about the player, but that's the unfortunate bit and I'd like to think that it's going to be put to bed now."