With South Africa coach Shukri Conrad's 'grovel' remark on Tuesday raising a fair few eyes brows, captain Temba Bavuma said that the head coach will have a look at his comments. (AP)With South Africa coach Shukri Conrad’s ‘grovel’ remark on Tuesday raising a fair few eyes brows, captain Temba Bavuma said that the head coach will have a look at his comments. Bavuma, who was addressing a post-match press conference after South Africa blanked India 2-0, said he found out about the comments just on Wednesday morning and hadn’t yet got around to talk to the coach.
“Comments made by coach came to me this morning. I was focused on game and didn’t have a chance to speak to him. Shukri is close to 60 years old and he will have a look at his comments. But in this series certain guys have also crossed the line. Not saying coach crossed the line, but he will surely think about it,” Bavuma said.
On Tuesday, When Conrad was asked for a reason South Africa had persisted to bat on despite having a sizeable lead on board, he had said with a smile: “We wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field, we wanted them to really grovel, to steer afraid, bat them completely out the gate, and then say to them : survive on the last day and an hour this evening.”
The word grovel has a place in cricketing infamy. In 1976, when the West Indies arrived in England for a Test series as overwhelming favourites, then English captain Tony Greig during a pre-series interview said, “… I intend to make them (West Indies) grovel.” West Indies thrashed England 3-0 in the series and made Greig eat humble pie.
Former players from both India and South Africa, including legends Anil Kumble and Dale Steyn, have also expressed disappointment at Conrad’s usage of the word “grovel” to describe Proteas’ dominance in the just-concluded Test series which they won 2-0.
Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel had slammed South Africa coach Conrad who had pointed at the smirk on the coach’s face when he had delivered the line. Parthiv Patel had labelled the comments as disrespectful and had said that he believed that an apology would be forthcoming on the fifth day of the Test.
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