New Zealand and South Africa clashed in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026 on March 4, 2026, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Mitchell Santner, New Zealand captain, won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Cole McConchie bowled one over in the match but picked the wickets of Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickelton (0), giving New Zealand the best possible start. South Africa couldn’t stabilize the fall of wickets as Aiden Markram (18) and David Miller (6) fell in quick succession too.
Dewald Brevis with 34 and Tristan Stubbs with 29 provided some respite, but it was the smoking innings of Marco Jansen, who made 55* in 30 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes, that South Africa managed a below-par 169/8 in 20 overs.
Matt Henry, Cole McConchie, and Rachin Ravindra starred with two wickets each for New Zealand.
Many expected a close game despite the below-par total put on by South Africa, but Tim Seifert and Finn Allen massacred the South African bowling. The duo hammered the Proteas pacers to all corners of Eden Gardens, as Marco Jansen went for 53 runs in his 2.5 overs and Corbin Bosch gave 35 in 2 overs.
Tim Seifert made 58 in 33 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes before being clean bowled by Kagiso Rabada. He added 117 runs for the first wicket in 9.1 overs. Aiden Markram missed out by not bringing in spinners in the powerplay to stop the flow of runs.
Finn Allen carried on his assault, bringing up his fifty in 19 balls and then taking New Zealand to an emphatic win by reaching his 100 with the match-winning shot. He took 33 balls, hitting 10 fours and 8 sixes, and remained unbeaten.
New Zealand won the game by 9 wickets in 12.5 overs and has qualified for the final of the tournament, which will be played in Ahmedabad on March 8.
India and England will clash in the second semi-final tomorrow, March 5, in Mumbai, and will face New Zealand in the summit clash.
It was an utterly dominating performance by the Kiwis, and the cricket fraternity took to social media to praise them. They had a lot of applause for Finn Allen and his destructive century as well.
Here are the posts:
