South Africa cricket coach Shukri Conrad said he intended no malice with his "grovel" remark during the second test in India after drawing criticism.
Speaking to the media for the first time since he made the comment last month, Conrad said he regretted his choice of word.
"On reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything," the 58-year-old said after his team went down to India in the third one-day international on Saturday in Visakhapatnam.
"I could have chosen a better word because it left it open for people to put their own context to it."
The word "grovel" has a controversial history behind it in cricket.
Before a series in 1976, then England captain Tony Greig, a white South African by birth, infamously said he intended to make the West Indies "grovel", evoking the spectre of slavery.
Greig insisted it was meant as a reference to the West Indies' supposed mental fragility rather than a racist insult.
Conrad used the word after day four of the second test in Guwahati, after South Africa handed India a mammoth target of 549 following a late declaration.
Speaking after the day's play, he said: "We wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field.
"We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase..."
That sparked criticism, including from former South Africa speedster and visiting commentator Dale Steyn.
Speaking on Saturday, Conrad said: "The only context I ever intended it to be was that we wanted India to spend a lot of time in the field and make it really tough for them.
"I've got to be careful what word I use here now because context could be attached to that as well."