New Zealand secured their place in the T20 World Cup final after defeating South Africa by nine wickets in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Set to chase 170, the Blackcaps comfortably struck the winning runs for the loss of just one wicket and 43 balls to spare, courtesy of a monumental opening partnership between centurion Finn Allen and Tim Seifert.
The opening pair laid a solid foundation for the pursuit by putting together 117 runs in nine overs before Kagiso Rabada cleaned up Seifert, who made a 33-ball 58 with the help of seven fours and two sixes. Allen, on the other hand, stood his ground firm and eventually steered New Zealand over the line by smashing Marco Jansen for a four on the penultimate delivery of the 13th over, which also helped him bring up his third T20I century.
Allen remained the top-scorer for New Zealand with an unbeaten 100 off 33 deliveries, studded with 10 fours and eight sixes.
He also shared a one-sided 56-run partnership for the second wicket with Rachin Ravindra, who contributed with 13 not out from 11 deliveries.
Rabada remained the solitary wicket-taker for South Africa.
Put into bat first, South Africa accumulated 169/8 in their 20 overs, courtesy of a defiant sixth-wicket partnership between Jansen and Tristan Stubbs. The Proteas, however, got off to a dismal start to their innings as they lost Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickelton (zero) in the second over with just 12 runs on the board.
Following the early stutter, captain Aiden Markram was joined by Dewald Brevis in the middle, and the duo batted cautiously to add 43 runs for the third wicket until the former fell victim to Rachin Ravindra in the eighth over after scoring a scratchy 18 off 20 deliveries.
Ravindra struck again in his next over, dismissing David Miller, who could score a run-a-ball six.
James Neesham inflicted another setback on South Africa in the next over as he dismissed set batter Brevis, who walked back after top-scoring with 34 off 27 deliveries with the help of three fours and two sixes, and brought the total down to 77/5.