Russell Domingo says two century partnerships involving Virat Kohli was one of the main reasons South Africa lost the fourth ODI against India on Thursday.

Kohli was Man-of-the-Match for his 138 off 140 balls. His 104-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane and 127-run partnership with Suresh Raina helped India post a formidable 299-8 in their 50 overs and left South Africa on the back foot from the outset.

‘India played better than us, that is the bottom line,’ Domingo said. ‘ Those were great partnerships and obviously Virat played a great innings.

‘We didn’t have a big enough partnership to keep us in the game for a period of time. Every time we seemed to get a partnership going we lost a wicket at a crucial time. India must take a lot of credit and those partnerships is one of the reasons why they won the game.’

The Proteas had early breakthroughs and had India in a spot of bother on 35-2, but after that it was one-way traffic.

‘There’s such small margins in this game,’ Domingo lamented. ‘They were 40-2; Virat scored 138 and played magnificently, but he gloved one just wide of the keeper. The margins are so small. It didn’t go for us today. India played better. Two partnerships put the nail in the coffin for us and put us under a lot of pressure.’

The final game on Sunday in Mumbai now becomes a series decider after India squared things 2-2, but Domingo said they aren’t discouraged after Thursday’s performance.

‘If someone said to us it would be 2-2 going into the final game after we’ve already won the T2o series we would have signed up for that.’

Picture: BCCI