South Africa captain Temba Bavuma on Wednesday downplayed Shukri Conrad’s controversial remarks that he wanted India to “really grovel”, through a prosaic reasoning that the head coach “will have a look at his comments”.

Former players from both India and South Africa, including legends Anil Kumble and Dale Steyn, have expressed disappointment at Conrad’s usage of the word “grovel”, which carries a historical context, to describe Proteas’ dominance in the just-concluded Test series which they won 2-0.