Conrad on using 'grovel' in India Test series: 'I could have chosen a better word'

South Africa coach Shukri Conrad has clarified that he did not intend "to cause any malice," when he said his team wanted to make India "grovel" during the Guwahati Test.

Speaking to the media for the first time since he made that statement, Conrad stopped short of an apology but indicated he regretted his choice of words as South Africa worked their way to a 2-0 Test sweep.

"On reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything. I could have chosen a better word because it left it open for people to put their own context to it," Conrad said after South Africa's 2-1 ODI series loss in Visakhapatnam. "The only context I ever intended it to be was that we wanted India to spend a lot of time in the field and make it really tough for them. I've got to be careful what word I use here now because context could be attached to that as well."

Conrad had made the comment after the fourth day's play of the second Test, when South Africa batted deep into their second innings and set India a target of 549. When asked why they didn't declare earlier, Conrad had 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, bat them completely out the game, and then say to them, 'come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening.'"

South Africa won the match on day five to hand India their heaviest home defeat and complete a first series win in India in 25 years. But Conrad's use of the word "grovel," which was heavily loaded because it was used by Tony Greig when referring to the West Indies team in 1976, spoilt some of South Africa's victory. Conrad was criticised by former Indian and South African players, including Sunil Gavaskar and visiting commentator Dale Steyn.

Conrad made no public comment since then but Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma twice fielded questions about the use of the word. On both occasions, Bavuma said it was an issue for Conrad to address. Meanwhile, Conrad was in communication with a "network of people that I trust, family back home, and people on our staff," and concluded he had done some damage, which he needed to repair.

"It's really a pity. Maybe what it did do was spice up the ODI series, and especially with India winning that now, the T20 series becomes even more so," Conrad said. "The unfortunate thing is, with all the noise that that word caused, I still think it's a perfectly good English word, but I just left it open to too many interpretations. What it did was take away the gloss of what was a really special win for our Test team. It's unfortunate, but there was definitely no malice intended."

In his nearly three years as Test coach and almost six months as all-format coach, Conrad has emerged as a popular, witty figure who does not mince his words. Notably, he asked his team to "show-off more" a few months ago as they put out strong performances on the world stage, but has based his philosophy on the opposite of that and expects humility from everyone including himself.

"Being humble is a cornerstone of our Test team and all our teams for that matter," he said. "It's unfortunate that the noise and the talk became around the coach. People shouldn't really even know who the coach is. It should be about the players. That's the unfortunate bit, and I'd like to think that it's going to be put to bed now."

ESPNcricinfo understands Cricket South Africa was not amused by Conrad's use of the word "grovel," not least because they maintain a strong relationship with Indian cricket, but left it up to him to decide if or when he wanted to address the issue. CSA has made no comment or statement about the coach's choice of language.