Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], November 30 : Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said that the South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad should acknowledge the 'grovel' remark that he used in the press conference during the second India vs South Africa Test and make up for it, calling the comment "ill-advised."
South Africa clean-swept India 2-0 in the Test series. During the second Test at Guwahati, South Africa had a lead of 288 runs in the first innings and could have easily made India follow on, but they decided to bat again. When asked about their approach, Conrad said, "We wanted them (India) to really grovel."
Speaking on the JioHotstar show 'Cricket Live', Sunil Gavaskar addressed South Africa coach Shukri Conrad's remarks, saying Conrad's comments were poorly chosen. He said India played a key role in South Africa's return to international cricket after decades of isolation and also noted that in today's cricket landscape, Indian owners support South African cricket heavilyparticularly through the SA20 league, where five of six teams are Indian-owned.
"You could say it was an ill-advised use of the word. We need to look back at South Africa's re-entry into international cricket. It was the Indian Cricket Board that proposed South Africa's readmission after more than 20 years of isolation, and their first international match on return was played in India," the former India batter said.
"When you consider the current landscape of South African cricket, especially the SA20, five out of the six franchises are Indian-owned. These owners are significantly supporting South African playersnot just the international stars who are well taken care of, but the fringe players as wellgiving them opportunities to build strong careers," Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar said India and South Africa have long shared a competitive but respectful cricketing relationship, with no history of hostility. He said an apology isn't needed, but a simple clarification acknowledging the remark went too far would be enough, given the strong ties between the two cricketing nations.
"Indian and South African cricket have shared a positive, collaborative relationship for decades. Across all the years and encounters between the two teams, the cricket has always been competitive and tough, but never hostile. I have witnessed nearly every India-South Africa contest, and it has always been hard, fair cricket. Nothing beyond that. So yes, it may have been an ill-advised remarkwrong time, wrong place," Gavaskar said.
"I hope that in his next media interaction, he addresses it. I don't think an apology is necessary; I personally don't believe in apologies. But acknowledging it and making up for it would be accepted by everyone. These things happen. In the heat of the moment, you can get carried away and say something that goes a bit over the top. Given the strong connection between Indian and South African cricket over the last 30 years, I think he can simply clarify that he got a bit carried away," he concluded.
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