KOLKATA: Finn Allen’s superb century led New Zealand to a 9-wicket win over South Africa in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
Chasing 170, the Blackcaps lost just one wicket and 43 balls to easily hit the winning runs, courtesy of a formidable opening partnership between centurion Allen and Seifert.
The opening pair put on 117 runs in 9 overs to lay a solid foundation for the chase, with Kagiso Rabada scoring 58 runs off 33 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes.
Allen, on the other hand, stood his ground and eventually guided New Zealand over the line by hitting Marco Johnson for a boundary off the final delivery of the 13th over, which helped bring up his third T20I century as well.
Finn Allen was New Zealand’s top scorer with an unbeaten 100 off 33 balls with 10 fours and 8 sixes.
He shared a one-sided 56-run partnership for the second wicket with Rachin Ravindra, who contributed an unbeaten 13 off 11 balls.
Rabada took the lone wicket in the South African team.
Batting first, South Africa amassed 169/8 in 20 overs, aided by a scrappy sixth-wicket partnership between Johnson and Tristan Stubbs.
However, the Proteas got off to a poor start to their innings as they lost Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickeldon (nil) for just 12 runs in the second over.
Following an early stumble, captain Aidan Markram joined Devald Previs in the middle and the duo batted carefully to add 43 runs for the third wicket, with Rachin Ravindra’s former victim in the eighth over after scoring 18 off 20 balls.
In his next over, Ravindra again dismissed David Miller for a six off one ball.
James Neesham gave South Africa another setback in the next over when he dismissed set-batter Previs, who scored 34 off 27 balls with three fours and two sixes, and reduced the total to 77/5.
Bowling all-rounder Marco Johnson and Tristan Stubbs began a spirited comeback for South Africa, who added 73 runs for the sixth wicket off 46 balls, with Lockie Ferguson cleaning the latter off the first delivery of the last over.
Stubbs scored 29 off 24 balls with 2 fours and a six.
On the other hand, Johnson continued his attack till the end and scored an unbeaten 55 off 30 balls with 5 sixes and two fours.
For New Zealand, Cole Mackenzie, Matt Henry and Ravindran took 2 wickets each and Neesham and Ferguson took one wicket each.