Another fine foot-in-mouth mess for South Africa against India

What is it about series against India that seems to challenge South Africa in unusual ways, especially when things are going well? If Shukri Conrad isn't dropping the "grovel" clanger then Sune Luus is suggesting her coaches are "repetitive and think [they] know everything".

South Africa won, at Kingsmead on Friday and Sunday, the first two of their five T20Is against India, a good sign heading into the World Cup in the format in England in June and July. It's especially good coming in the wake of them losing six of the eight white-ball internationals they played in New Zealand from March 15 to April 4.

Not forgetting that this is the first rubber the South Africans are playing after the axing of batting coach Baakier Abrahams, fielding coach Bongani Ndaba and strength and conditioning expert Zane Webster in the wake of the failure to launch in New Zealand. They were replaced, on an interim basis, by Andrew Puttick, Mduduzi Mbatha and Tumi Masekela.

That raised eyebrows, what with a World Cup looming. The new regime is only two games into a tenure that might yet be temporary, but for now it seems Mandla Mashimbyi knows a few things that the eyebrow-raisers do not.

So Mashimbyi would be within his rights to raise his own eyebrows at what Luus said after Sunday's match when she was asked to judge the value of having Keshav Maharaj in the dugout in a consulting role.

"Sometimes a coach can be repetitive and think he knows everything," Luus said. "But, coming from the number one bowler in the world, we just absorbed everything he was saying the last couple of days."

Luus was not misquoted. Was she joking? It didn't sound as if she was. It also didn't sound as if she was taking a dig at the coaching staff. Maybe she wasn't talking about them specifically. Maybe she used words weightier than the thought she intended to convey. Maybe that was indeed what she was trying to say. Whatever - use those words she did.

Conrad knew exactly what he was saying when he was asked, in Guwahati in November, why South Africa had batted on until they had a lead of 548 in the second match of a two-Test series they led 1-0.

"We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase," Conrad said. Because of slavery and Tony Greig - who first used the tainted term in May 1976 before England's series against West Indies - grovel has been a taboo in cricket. It's up there - or should that be down there? - with the n-word and, in South Africa, the k-word.

South Africa surged to victory by 408 runs the next day, sealing only their second Test series win in India and their first success in the format there in six rubbers spread over more than 25 years. But the ill-advised use of the g-word tarnished that triumph.

Luus' statement is unlikely to have a similar effect. But it is an unnecessary, possibly destabilising, distraction coming on the cusp of what would be a notable feat - South Africa have won just won of their four previous T20I series against India, home and away.

On top of that, Luus has played 295 internationals and captained South Africa in 69 of them. What she says matters. Should South Africa not clinch the series at the Wanderers on Wednesday, doubts about dressingroom unity will arise. If India rally to win the rubber, the misgivings will be voiced loudly. Whether the supposed cracks in the team's togetherness are real or imagined won't matter; the notion will have been planted and will have to be denied. To confirm it, even if it is true, would be too damaging.

Tumi Sekhukhune knew better than to venture down this dark and dangerous road at her press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Asked what she thought Maharaj had brought, she said, "It was nice having Keshav giving the girls feedback and bowling tips about the stadium. We have a lot of left-arm bowlers, it worked really well in Durban."

Maharaj, a Durbanite, was officially on board only for the Kingsmead games. Would he be back for the rest of the series? "Because it went so well he might just pop in for the last three as well," the media manager said.

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