After winning the toss, New Zealand opted to field first against South Africa in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Squads
South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Jason Smith and Tristan Stubbs.
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi and Cole McConchie.
Head-to-head
South Africa and New Zealand have come face-to-face 19 times in T20Is, with the former dominating the head-to-head record with 12 victories, compared to the Blackcaps’ seven.
In T20 World Cups, however, South Africa boast a perfect 5-0 record over New Zealand.
- Matches: 19
- South Africa: 12
- New Zealand: 7
Form Guide
South Africa and New Zealand enter the fixture with contrasting momentum in their favour as the former are unbeaten in the 20-team tournament, while the Blackcaps suffered defeats in both the group and Super Eights stage and consequently qualified for the semi-final only due to a superior net run rate than that of Pakistan.
The two teams also locked horns in the group stage, which South Africa won convincingly by seven wickets, courtesy of Marco Jansen’s four-wicket haul and captain Aiden Markram’s unbeaten half-century.
South Africa: W, W, W, W, W (most recent first)
New Zealand: L, W, NR, W, L
