Cape Town - Proteas opening batsman Dean Elgar admits that Sri Lanka have been the better team in the two-match Test series.
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Sri Lanka are currently leading the series 1-0 and are on the verge of a series whitewash victory against the world No 2 Test ranked team.
The Proteas are five down and in pursuit of an impossible-looking 490 victory target in Colombo.
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The Proteas, who are 139 for 5 after Day 3, have No 3 batsman Theunis de Bruyn (45*) and Temba Bavuma (14*) at the crease.
Elgar admits that the situation does not bode well for the visitors.
"It's been a totally different kind of tour for myself personally and the team as well," Elgar said, as quoted by AFP.
"We have been outplayed and outclassed in this series, and I'll be man enough to say that Sri Lanka have been better than us in this particular series."
This will be the Proteas' first series defeat against Sri Lanka since 2006, when they also suffered a whitewash - the last time the side faced such a humiliation anywhere.
Faf du Plessis' side have only three recognised batsmen remaining and two full days left to survive against Sri Lanka, currently ranked sixth after a string of defeats in recent times.
Play on Monday gets underway at 06:30 SA time.