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Shukri Conrad’s comment about wanting India to “grovel” within the Guwahati Test sparked controversy as a result of its racial history, drawing criticism from Indian fans.
South African coach Shukri Conrad has sparked an argument.
(PC: AFP)
South African coach Shukri Conrad sparked a little bit of an argument together with his post-match press comments about India on Tuesday (November 25). While speaking about his team’s decision to bat for longer than they probably needed within the Guwahati Test, he said they ‘wanted India to actually grovel’.
Although grovel could simply mean to tire and show how higher they were to the Indians, it carries a couple of racial connotations. In 1976, England captain Tony Greig emphatically said they desired to make the West Indian team ‘grovel’ before a series. West Indian captain Clive Lloyd was incensed, saying ‘the word was guaranteed to boost the blood pressure of any black man’, especially since it got here from a white South African.
It was seen as racially insensitive given South Africa’s history with apartheid, which saw the vast majority of the Black African population persecuted for years. Though it’s different coming from Conrad, who’s brown and thus among the many marginalised communities within the Rainbow Nation, Indian fans didn’t take kindly to it.
Despite taking a 288-run lead in the primary innings, South Africa declared after scoring 260/5 within the second. It took crucial outing of the match, leaving them with only 4 sessions to take ten wickets.
The strategy didn’t prove to be too bad with the Proteas getting two wickets within the last session of the fourth day itself.
“We checked out how best we are able to use the brand new ball in order that within the morning we’ve still got a new-ish, hard-ish ball,” Conrad later said about delaying the declaration. “What we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket within the evening, there’s something in it for the short bowlers. We didn’t need to declare to early and never have the ability to make use of that. And clearly we wanted India to spend as much outing on their feet out in the sector, bat them completely out the sport after which say to them ‘well come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening.”
“We all know they aren’t just going to roll over. We’re going to need to be at our highest tomorrow. We wanted India to come back out after Lunch and spend time on their feet. Their bowlers spent numerous outing there. We saw the results of batting for two full days in the primary innings. It was never going to be easy for his or her opening batters to come back this evening, especially with the brand new ball, shadows across the wicket. We felt we could have struck there… If tomorrow evening it comes that we’ve got them 8 down and other people say ‘see, told you so’… well, we’ve got to base it on our sound judgement and if that doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t. But I don’t think there may be a right and improper in any of this,” he added.
November 25, 2025, 18:08 IST
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