South Africa national cricket team head coach Shukri Conrad is giving a strong reply to those calling his team chokers ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-finals. Recently, Shukri Conrad faced a pointed question about the “choker” tag, but she turned it into a complete joke.
For years, South Africa had strong teams but never won the World Cup and because of this they got the tag of chokers. Recently, South Africa lost to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
However, South Africa is in amazing form in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. They won all four games of the group stage as well as all three games of the Super 8s. They are the only unbeaten team in the tournament, looking for their first title.
Shukri Conrad hits back at “choker” tag
Taking a dig at the ICC broadcasters, the South African head coach talked about the famous “cupcake” advertisement that was aired before his team’s 76-run win over India in Ahmedabad. Conrad said his team enjoyed the ad and also joked that “cupcake” was a better word than “chokers”.
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Shukri Conrad also reminded everyone that South Africa “are the reigning ICC World Test Championship champions and are unbeaten in this T20 World Cup, and they beat India by 76 runs in the Super 8 match”.
The Proteas head coach also warned ICC broadcasters. He said they should stop calling South Africa chokers. He made it clear that South Africa is no longer afraid of pressure.
There is always pressure: Shukri Conrad
Shukri Conrad said at the press conference, “There’s always pressure. I think it’s what you do with that pressure and how you move the pressure. As far as the C word (choker), I think there’s another word called ‘cupcake’ that we have to throw in; don’t want to forget that. I thought we enjoyed it.”
South Africa will play New Zealand in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2026 and Conrad said his team is confident and ready to fight in every game. Conrad said that they will prepare in the same strong manner for the semi-final match against New Zealand.
“I don’t think it (pressure) will change anything. For us, it will be business as usual. We will start as favorites against New Zealand because we are the only unbeaten team in the tournament. But I don’t know if it adds to the pressure or not. Playing the semi-finals is a lot of pressure. Playing the top team is a lot of pressure,” Conrad said.
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Semi-finals are very stressful: Shukri Conrad
South Africa will face New Zealand in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2026. They go into the match as favorites as they are the only unbeaten team in the tournament so far.
The coach admitted that the semi-finals are high pressure in themselves, but being the favorites doesn’t worry him. He also hopes that the Proteas team will defeat the Black Caps and qualify for the finals.
He said, “I think there is a lot of pressure in the semi-finals. There is a lot of pressure on New Zealand playing the top team. So, there is no extra pressure, and I am happy that we are the favorites because I always think as a South African team, you want to be able to play as the favorites because it is easy to be the underdog. And yes, hopefully we get a result on Wednesday and then on our home ground in Ahmedabad (for the final).”
SA. Big Comment on Coach “S. Conrad” and Commentators on Choker’s Tag
S.Conrad mocked the broadcasters over the word “chokers” and added another word ‘cupcake’ (moked )
He also said – We are WTC champions and invincible in WC, beat India by 76 runs
– Kiara (@crickiara) 2 March 2026