India, Nov. 26 -- South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad's use of the word "grovel" while explaining his team's decision to prolong their second innings on Day 4 of the Guwahati Test has drawn sharp reactions from former India cricketers Anil Kumble, Cheteshwar Pujara and Aakash Chopra, who expressed disappointment at both the phrasing and the timing of the comment.

Conrad said he wanted India to "really grovel" by spending long hours in the field before being handed a daunting 549-run target-remarks he admitted were borrowed from Tony Greig's infamous pre-series interview ahead of England's 1976 Tests against West Indies. That original usage, steeped in the painful racial history of the Caribbean and apartheid-era South Africa, led to wi...