Shukri Conrad regrets his poor word choice and wants to move on

Days before South Africa started their T20I series against India, the Proteas' head coach apologised for using the word 'grovel'. By Keanan Hemmonsbey

- Keanan Hemmonsbey

India's players celebrate after beating South Africa to move 2-1 up in the four-game T20 series with one match remaining to play.

(Photo: Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The Proteas wrapped up the one-day international series against India with a nine-wicket loss to the hosts on Saturday, 6 December. It means the 50-over section of the tour to India concluded with a 2-1 series loss.

It came after the Test series in which South Africa claimed an incredible 2-0 victory, and the two sides are now set to face off in a three-match T20 series this week.

And although South Africa’s first Test series victory in the country for 25 years stole most of the headlines, just below, the words of head coach Shukri Conrad on day four of the second Test match stuck. South Africa had batted deep into day four in Guwahati at that point and only given themselves about four sessions to bowl India out.

“We wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field,” Conrad said. “We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase, [and] bat them completely out of the game.”

Several corners of the cricketing fraternity, particularly India, expressed outrage and disappointment, and commentators and former players all dissected Conrad's choice of phrase. But it was not a slip of the tongue as a scholar of the game, he knew what the phrase meant and it can’t be put down to ignorance.