Proteas ignore the 'cupcake' bait

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad wasn’t taking the bait on the “Cupcake” saga that has erupted in India ahead of his team’s much-anticipated ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash against the hosts in Ahmedabad on Sunday. 

Broadcaster Star Sports has ramped up the tension between the two sides, who met in the last T20 World Cup final two years ago in Barbados, when India claimed victory and their second T20 World Cup crown by a mere seven runs. 

The advertisement makes reference to the Kensington Oval final when Aiden Markram’s team required 30 runs off 30 balls, but failed to get over the line and pushes the narrative further by drawing on the Proteas’ historic ‘choker’ label with the South African fan beginning to cough after taking a bite of a cupcake. 

Proteas fans have been up in arms on social media, urging their team to claim revenge, while even Indian supporters have expressed their disgust at the advertisement. 

Conrad, though, did not want to be drawn into the media frenzy.

“I need to get off the cupcakes,” he said on yesterday. “It was quite hilarious. Someone showed me the ad last night. And yeah, adds to what's going to be a special occasion on Sunday.”

The Proteas coach has felt the wrath of the juggernaut Indian media contingent before when he used the infamous term “grovel” - which has had racial connotations attached to it in cricket during a previous era - on his team’s successful Test tour to the subcontinent last year. 

After being treated as a pariah and lambasted by India legend Sunil Gavasakar among others, Conrad later explained his actions had no malicious intent. 

Conrad also stressed that there has been no talk of “revenge” for the Barbados defeat within the Proteas dressing room and his team is purely looking forward to the occasion on Sunday, where over 130 000 people are expected to stream through the turnstiles at the Narendra Modi Stadium. 

“I wasn't in Barbados. It certainly hasn't come up in any of our chats. There's been nothing about redemption and revenge and all of the words,” he said.

“I think that our recent tour prepped us really well in terms of the hostility, the fervour that's being built up around Sunday.

“I mean, 132 000 people are going to be crammed into the stadium and they're going to be in blue. So I think that prepared us for a lot of what's going to come still, and especially Sunday. 

“India are ranked one in the world, arguably the best T20 side. No better time than to come up against them in the first half.”