'We wanted India to grovel': South African coach Shukri Conrad creates row as hosts struggle

Guwahati: Shukri Conrad, the South African head coach, is an articulate man with a vast knowledge of the history of the game. Throughout South Africa’s stint so far in India, he has been politically correct without sounding trite. On Monday, as South Africa took giant strides towards a rare series win over India in their backyard, he lowered his guard and invoked former England skipper Tony Greig’s infamous “we want to grovel them” remark targeting the visiting West Indian side in 1976.

Tony Greig’s deeply insulting remark didn’t go down well with Clive Lloyd’s West Indies that was still carrying the scars of colonisation. Rather than intimidating the Caribbeans, it became a rallying point for the visitors and put England in their place. West Indies thrashed the home team 3-0 in the five-Test series and blanked them 3-0 in ODIs.

Conrad’s timing was deliberate. India appeared broken during the second Test, trailing 1–0 in the series and staring at a deficit of 522 runs with only eight wickets remaining and a full day left to survive. A draw looked unlikely, a win nearly impossible. Yet one question loomed: would Conrad’s comments inspire India to do the unthinkable?

During his post-match conversation with the media, Conrad was asked whether South Africa had waited too long to declare, having already batted India out of the match before lunch. What came next stunned a largely Indian media contingent that instantly recognised the historical weight of his words.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, to grovel means “to show too much respect to somebody who is more important than you.” Coming from Greig, a white South African–born cricketer representing England at the height of apartheid in his homeland, the phrase cut painfully deep. The West Indies players, most of them of African descent, never forgot the slight.

Conrad began his explanation calmly. “There were a few factors. We obviously look at how best we are going to use the new ball so that in the morning we still have a newish, hardish ball. We felt that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there is something in it for the quick bowlers. So we did not want to declare too early and lose that advantage. And of course we wanted India to spend as much time as possible on their feet in the field.”

Up to that point, everything sounded tactical and normal. Then he added a line that changed the mood in the room: “We wanted them (India) to really grovel, to steal a phrase. Bat them completely out of the game and then say to them, well, come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening.”

He attempted to soften the impact, although the damage may already have been done. “We also know they are not just going to roll over. We will need to be at our very best tomorrow. Some people would say we batted for too long.”

The comment, coming from Conrad, a coloured South African, and directed at a team from a nation that stood firmly against apartheid, has the potential to snowball into a major controversy that could overshadow what has so far been a friendly series.

It can be recalled that, in 1974, India refused to play the Davis Cup final against South Africa in protest against apartheid policies that discriminated against non-white communities in the Rainbow Nation.