Conrad regrets, but does not apologise for grovel comment

Eleven days after using a racially charged term during a press conference, Shukri Conrad explained himself but stopped short of apologising.

"It was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything," Conrad said. "I could have chosen a better word, on reflection, because it left it open to people putting their own context to it. The only context I intended was for India to spend a lot of time [in the field] and make it really tough for them."

On November 25, after the Guwahati Test, Conrad was asked why his team had batted for over five hours before declaring with a lead of 549. He said, "We wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field. We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase."

The word "grovel" is associated with slavery, colonisation, and racism. It caused controversy when Tony Greig used it in 1976 to describe what he wanted England to do to West Indies.

"It's really a pity," Conrad continued. "Maybe what it did was spice up the ODI series. The unfortunate thing is, with all the noise that word caused, I still think it's a perfectly good English word. But it left it open to too many interpretations."

South Africa went on to win the Test by 408 runs—India's heaviest home defeat—securing a 2-0 series victory, their first in India in over 25 years.

"What it did was take away the gloss of what was a really special win for our Test team," Conrad said. "Being humble is a cornerstone of all our teams. It's unfortunate that the noise and the talk became around the coach."

The cricket context of "grovel" was tainted by racism following Greig's comment. Greig, a white South African, was a product of apartheid. Conrad's reference to this episode raised questions.

Conrad's remarks forced captain Temba Bavuma to address the issue in press conferences, diverting attention from the players.

There are also concerns about Cricket South Africa's relationship with the BCCI, given India's financial influence in world cricket. In 2013, the BCCI reduced a tour to South Africa from 12 to 7 matches, costing CSA over USD 20 million, reportedly due to the appointment of Haroon Lorgat as chief executive.

Conrad has earned respect as South Africa's coach, transforming a perennially underperforming team into consistent winners. His charismatic leadership has made him popular, but this incident risks damaging his and CSA's standing.

In the deciding third ODI, South Africa posted 270, with Quinton de Kock scoring 106 and Bavuma 48. However, the innings lost momentum, with the last seven wickets falling for 100 runs. Kuldeep Yadav took 4/41 and Prasidh Krishna 4/66 for India.

India chased the target comfortably, winning by nine wickets with 10.1 overs to spare. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his first ODI century, an unbeaten 116, while Rohit Sharma made 75 and Virat Kohli 65 not out.

"We would have wanted to make it a lot more exciting today," Bavuma said. "From a batting point of view we didn't have enough runs. We gifted wickets."

He added, "We have definitely grown. India have quality spinners and it's never easy to put them under pressure. For large parts of the series we did that."