South Africa captain Aiden Markram blamed his team’s batting approach following their shock exit from the T20 World Cup 2026. The Proteas were thrashed by New Zealand by nine wickets in the first semi-final on Wednesday, 4 March, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
After being put in to bat, South Africa laboured to 169/8 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, New Zealand made a mockery of the chase, reaching the target in just 12.5 overs as Finn Allen starred with a record-breaking 33-ball century.
Following the defeat, Markram admitted his side failed to adapt quickly enough to the conditions and felt that a total in the region of 180–190 would have kept them in contention.
“I think it comes down to the conditions. They bowled really well up front, quite full. Some balls came on nicely, while others held up a bit in the surface and hit low on the bat, which made scoring difficult. That built pressure, and we ended up losing wickets. The pitch looked pretty good, so maybe we could have adapted quicker with the bat. Perhaps we should have taken a more traditional approach — building the innings and grinding our way to around 180–190, which might have kept us in the game,” said Markram in the post-match presentation.
He also credited Marco Jansen for his unbeaten half-century (55* off 30 balls), which helped South Africa post what seemed a competitive total of 169/8. However, he admitted it was extremely difficult to contain the onslaught from Tim Seifert and Allen.
“To be honest, getting to 170 was a really good effort. At the halfway stage, we felt we had a chance. But in T20 cricket, the powerplay is crucial, and they got off to a flying start. You can’t protect every boundary, unfortunately, and once they got going, it became very difficult to pull it back. Credit to Finn Allen and Tim Seifert for their knocks — they took the game away from us early,” he added.
New Zealand end South Africa’s unbeaten run
Tim Seifert (58 off 33) and Finn Allen (100* off 33) effectively decided the contest during the powerplay, sharing a massive 117-run stand off just 55 balls. While Seifert was dismissed for 58, Allen went on to register the fastest century in T20 World Cup history. Their remarkable performances ended South Africa’s unbeaten run in the tournament and sealed their exit at the semi-final stage.
New Zealand have now qualified for their second T20 World Cup final and will face the winner of the second semi-final between India and England in the showpiece clash on 8 March in Ahmedabad.
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