New Zealand defeated South Africa by 9 wickets in the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Thanks to Finn Allen’s brilliant century, the team achieved the target of 170 runs in just 12.4 overs. Since the Kiwi openers were aggressive from the beginning of the innings.
Talking about the match, Black Caps won the toss and decided to bowl first. Mitchell Santner has made one change in the team and Jimmy Neesham has been included in place of Ish Sodhi. Aiden Makram made three changes from their previous win against Zimbabwe.
Marco Johnson’s bravery was in vain
Marco Johnson, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj are returning to the team. The Proteas started well, but fell two wickets early at 12/2 and from then on they failed to recover and were struggling at 77/5. Daryl Mitchell had a controversial catch which was given out, and Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips had two dropped catches.
Later Tristan Stubbs and Marco Johnson made a partnership of 73 runs for the sixth wicket. This partnership helped the team score 150 runs before the former was out after scoring 29 runs off 24 balls. However, Marco Johnson’s masterclass of 55* off 30 balls helped his team post 169/8 in 20 overs.
Rachin Ravindra, Cole McConchie and Matt Henry took two wickets each, and Lockie Ferguson and Jimmy Neesham took one wicket each.
finn allen show for new zealand
Chasing the target of 170 runs, Tim Seifert and Allen were absolutely lethal from the first over. Both the batsmen attacked the South African bowlers and scored 84/0 in the powerplay. Both the batsmen made a partnership of 117 runs for the first wicket.
Seifert was out after scoring 58 runs in 33 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Allen, on the other hand, was lethal as the Kiwi opener scored the fastest century in men’s T20 World Cup history. It was a definitive win for the Kiwis over the 2024 T20 World Cup finalists.
Allen remained unbeaten till the end after scoring 100* off 33 balls. Rachin was playing the role of an anchor by scoring 13 runs in 11 balls. Kagiso Rabada was the only wicket-taker for the Proteas. The Black Caps will be looking forward to taking on India/England, who will take on each other in Semi-Final 2 tomorrow.
Fans react to Allen’s fastest century
Finn Allen’s explosive innings just got defeated
– It’s_Vino (@Vino_Ooty) 4 March 2026
When the pressure was at its peak, Finn Allen rose above it – a match-winning masterclass!
– Kamal Singh (@kamal05081995) 4 March 2026
Finn Allen scored 100 runs in 33 balls
©Fastest century in T20 World Cup history.
©Fastest against a full-member team.
©Joint third fastest century in all T20Is.
©The joint fastest century by a player of a full-member team.#NZvsSA
– ROneEight (@_R_OneEight) 4 March 2026
Finn Allen scored the fastest century in T20 World Cup history!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/mgTAGcf9BN
– KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) 4 March 2026
You guys got another salt
Congratulations, at least keep it up from now on– АŔÜÑ (@ArunKumarJV2000) 4 March 2026
Finn Allen, what a knock
– Craig (@CraigAnder87311) 4 March 2026
Incredible batting by Finn Allen, century in just 33 balls and congratulations to the Kiwis for reaching the T20 World Cup final. Glad that one of the candidates I selected for the semi-finals has reached the finals. India is my second choice and let’s see how they perform tomorrow.
– Roshan Abeysinghe (@RoshanCricket) 4 March 2026
The world bows before merit,
National team did not have to tolerate meritCongratulations to Finn Allen pic.twitter.com/WxHvEutibR
– Vishal Pandey (@Vishal_aawaj) 4 March 2026
Also read: Watch: Quinton de Kock-Dewald Brevis confusion gives Tim Seifert a second chance