South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad has taken a sly dig at T20 World Cup broadcaster Star Sports for the infamous cupcake ad. Ahead of the semi-final match against New Zealand, Conrad said the team had quite enjoyed the promotion.
Star Sports have found themselves at the center of controversy after publishing a defamatory ad suggesting that South Africa have a habit of failing at world tournaments. In the ad, a South African and an Indian fan were seen chasing a piece of pastry, with the Proteas fan beating the Indian fan. The Indian fan then condescendingly told the South African fan that they should be satisfied with the cupcake because they never had enough to win the actual trophy.
After airing the promotion, South Africa attacked India at the Narendra Modi Stadium, forcing the broadcaster to remove the ad from all platforms. Even before that, there was a massive backlash from cricket fans in India and around the world who pointed out the narrow mindedness of Star Sports.
“There’s always pressure. I think it’s what you do with that pressure and how you shift the pressure. As for the C word, I think there’s another one for him – cupcakes. I thought we enjoyed it,” Conrad said after South Africa’s win over Zimbabwe in their last Super 8 match.
South Africa is the only unbeaten side in the competition. They beat strong teams like Afghanistan, India and West Indies en route to the semi-finals and now face a tricky New Zealand side at the Eden Gardens. Conrad said there was no added pressure despite starting as favourites. Being in the semi-finals was enough pressure for the side.
“Let’s start as favourites, probably because we are the only unbeaten side in the competition. But I don’t know if that adds to the pressure. I think the semi-final is enough pressure,” he said.
“Playing a top team like New Zealand is enough pressure. So there’s no extra pressure and I’m glad we’re favourites, because I’ve always felt as a South African team you want to play as favourites, because being the underdog is easy,” he added.
The head coach had faith in his team and methods and said that if South Africa continue with what they have done so far in the tournament, they would probably make it to the finals on March 8 in Ahmedabad.
South Africa have played most of their matches in Ahmedabad and know the conditions well. Conrad joked about the same, saying that hopefully they will play the final on their “home ground”.
“And yes, hopefully it will give us a result on Wednesday and then at our home ground in Ahmedabad (in the final),” he said.
South Africa play New Zealand on March 4 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
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Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
02 March 2026 18:47 IST
