The Proteas were outclassed by New Zealand in the first semifinal at Eden Gardens.
South Africa suffered a crushing nine-wicket defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday (March 4).
Asked to bat first, the Proteas posted a fighting total of 169/8 in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to Marco Jansen’s stunning half-century (55* off 30) after being reduced to 77/5 at one stage.
In reply, Finn Allen smashed the fastest century in T20 World Cup history, off just 33 balls, to help the Kiwis achieve the target with 43 deliveries to spare.
After the loss, South African head coach Shukri Conrad minced no words as he said that it was "not a choke but a walloping".
"I don't know if tonight was a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping. In order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We didn't have a sniff. In South Africa, we'd say we 'got moered (violent assault)'," Conrad said in the post-match presser.
Conrad, in his inimitable style, brought up another Afrikaans term to sum up their dismal show in the knockout fixture.
"Tonight, we got a proper 'snotklap' -- that's an Afrikaans word for a real hiding, a smack you don't see coming. That's what it felt like," he added.
The Black Caps bowlers set up the contest nicely with Cole McConchie dismissing Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickelton (0) in consecutive deliveries in the second over after they won a good toss.
Later, Rachin Ravindra and Matt Henry tightened the screws in the middle overs as none of their premier batters -- Aiden Markram (18), David Miller (6), Dewald Brevis (34) -- could swing their bats.
It was the 73-run partnership between Jansen and Tristan Stubbs (29) that lifted South Africa’s total in the death overs.
"We recovered nicely with Stabo and Marco but I thought New Zealand were excellent. They exploited conditions really well with their spinners up front and we just never got out the block. So, yeah, full marks to them," Conrad conceded.
"They were a hell of a lot better than us tonight. We just spoke about it, that it seemed like everything went right.”
South Africa were on a seven-match winning streak in this tournament, prompting the coach say they "chose a really crappy time to have a bad night."
However, he dismissed the suggestions that playing majority of their matches in Ahmedabad had left them under-prepared for a different venue.
"There's obviously a lot to be said about playing all our games at Ahmedabad and then not having played anything in some of the other states. But again, that's no excuse," he said.
"They strangled us up front, lost wickets, didn't get any sort of momentum going. And yeah, a hell of a lot didn't go right tonight. But that was probably enforced because they were so good and they never gave us a sniff."
Asked how would the team overcome such a painful defeat after a dream campaign, Conrad quipped, "Hopefully we've got a carrier to pick us up to take us home. Look, I mean, the guys will be hurting and they obviously are, but it's not a hell of a lot. You get judged on World Cups and winning it."
Despite being outclassed in the semifinal, Conrad took pride in his side's consistent brilliance in the preliminaries,
"I thought we did some exceptional stuff throughout the tournament. Played some really good cricket. I am incredibly proud of these guys. Not many people gave us a chance of making the semifinals when we left home, given our form before the World Cup. But that's no consolation right now," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)