By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Cricket is a strange game — totally unpredictable. South Africa was hot favourite to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 as they had very convincingly won all their matches before entering semifinals.
On the other hand, New Zealand was on the verge of elimination. But Kiwis in the other group just managed to enter semifinals on the basis of better run rate against Pakistan which faltered in a crucial Super 8 match against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Pakistan could not achieve a minimum 65 runs victory target despite scoring 212 runs against Sri Lanka.
And today, Proteas showed they still falter whenever they are playing in a semifinal or a final match of every big tournament. In simple words, Proteas are not yet ready to shed their chokers-tag.
In the one-sided match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, New Zealand crushed South Africa winning the match by 9 wickets (43 balls left).
South Africa which set a target of 170 runs was once tottering at 77/5. But Marco Janesen and Tristan Stubbs added 73 runs for the fifth wicket partnership to restore some semblance to take the score to 150. After Stubbs was out, South Africa lost three more quick wickets and added 19 more runs to take the total to 169.
When Kiwis came to bat they started hitting sixes and fours in the power play game with both openers Finn Allen and Tim Seifert playing excellent shots. The two openers took the score to 117 before Seifert was bowled by Kagiso Rabada on a fine delivery. But Allen continued to thrash all the bowlers giving no chance to Proteas to bounce back in the game. And when Allen was on 90, there were only two deliveries left. He scored a six and a four to complete his majestic century in just 33 balls which is the fastest in the T20 WC history.
New Zealand will now meet the winner of the second semi-final between India and England which will be played at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (Mar 5). The Final will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8.