South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad admitted that the use of the word ‘grovel’ took the sheen away from his team’s landmark Test victory over India but maintained his stance that he intended no “malice” with that term.
Conard on 'Grovel' remark
Conard's comment during the second Test match, when they were right on top of the match against India, created controversy when he said that he wants India to grovel.
“I think on reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything. How could I have chosen a better word on reflection? Yeah, I could have been smarter,” Conrad said in the post-match press conference here after the third ODI.
“It (the word) left it open to people putting their own context to it, 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,” he added.
Conrad said that from now on, he’ll be more careful about the words he uses in public.
“I'm going to be careful what word I use here now, because context would be attached to that as well. It's really a pity. Maybe what it did do was to spice up the ODI series, especially with them winning that now, the T20 series becomes even more so.”
Conrad understood that the whole episode took the focus away from SA’s Test series win over India after 25 long years.
“The unfortunate thing is, with all the noise that word caused, I don't think it's a perfectly good English word, but like I said, it 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. It's unfortunate, but like I said, there was definitely no malice intended.”
India vs South Africa ODI series
Coming back to the ODI series, Team India defeated South Africa 2-1 in the three-match ODI series, where Kohli was awarded Player of the tournament. He was the highest run-getter, smashing 302 runs in three matches at an average of 151.00 and a strike rate of 117.05. His runs included a 135 off 120 balls in Ranchi, a 102 off 93 balls in Raipur, and an unbeaten 65 off 45 balls in the third ODI as India defeated South Africa by nine wickets.