Virat Kohli Rues Missed Chances In India's Loss To South Africa In 4th ODI

Virat Kohli lamented crucial errors in the field and said that India did not deserve to win after failing to grab their chances as South Africa tasted their first victory in the six-match ODI series by winning the fourth ODI in Johannesburg on Saturday. South Africa chased down a rain-reduced target of 202 in 28 overs with five wickets and 15 balls to spare to keep alive their hopes of sharing the six-match series after losing the first three games. "You have to take your chances in this game," said Kohli after David Miller escaped twice in one over at a time when India seemed to have taken control.

India looked in control and were in the driver's seat when AB de Villiers was sent packing with South Africa still needing 100 runs off only 67 balls remaining. However, David Miller, on six, was dropped by Shreyas Iyer at deep square leg off leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and in the same over got another reprieve when he was bowled off a no-ball.

Miller went on to hit 39 and shared a quickfire stand of 72 with Heinrich Klaasen, whose 43 not out off 27 balls earned him the man of the match award.

"When AB got out we felt we were in the game but these two took it away from us. No balls are something that hurts you as a team and it is something we hope to rectify and not repeat them in the next games," said Kohli.

"It basically became a T20 game," he added. "We did not grab our chances so we did not deserve to win."

Two weather interruptions played a key role. India were 200 for two, with Shikhar Dhawan on 107 not out when the threat of lightning caused a stoppage after 34.2 overs.

Dhawan added only two runs after the resumption and India lost five wickets for 89 runs to finish with a slightly disappointing 289 for seven.

South Africa were 43 for one after 7.2 overs when lightning, followed by rain, caused a lengthy delay. They came came back needing another 159 runs off 20.4 overs.

Indian spinners Chahal and left-armer Kuldeep Yadav, who took 21 wickets between them in the first three matches, conceded a combined 119 runs off 11.3 overs on Saturday as they struggled to control a wet ball against aggressive batting.

"It was nice to put some pressure on the Indians. The message today was to put fear aside," said South African captain Aiden Markram.

Kohli, the star of a series in which India hold an unbeatable 3-0 lead, played another valuable innings, hitting 75 in a second-wicket stand of 178 with Dhawan. His 83-ball innings took Kohli to 393 runs for a series in which he has only been dismissed twice.

(With AFP Inputs)