South Africa captain Aiden Markram admitted his side misread the conditions with the bat after their emphatic nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand national cricket team in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at Eden Gardens on Wednesday, 4 March.
Asked to bat first, South Africa struggled for fluency and posted 169/8 in their 20 overs. The total proved insufficient as New Zealand romped home in just 12.5 overs, powered by a breathtaking 33-ball century from Finn Allen.
Reflecting on the loss, Markram conceded that his team failed to adjust swiftly to the surface and believed a score closer to 180–190 could have made the contest more competitive.
“I think it comes down to reading the conditions better,” Markram said at the post-match presentation. “They bowled very well up front, quite full. Some deliveries came on nicely, others held up in the pitch and hit low on the bat, which made scoring tricky. That created pressure and we lost wickets at key moments. The wicket looked good enough, so perhaps we should have adapted quicker, taken a more conventional approach, built partnerships and tried to grind our way to 180 or 190. That might have kept us in the game.”
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He reserved special praise for Marco Jansen, whose unbeaten 55 off 30 balls lifted South Africa to what initially appeared a fighting total. However, Markram admitted the team had no answers once New Zealand’s openers took control.
“To be honest, getting to 170 felt like a strong recovery. At the halfway stage, we thought we had something to work with. But in T20 cricket, the powerplay is crucial, and they made full use of it. You can’t defend every boundary, and once they got momentum, it became extremely hard to stop. Credit to Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, they took the game away from us early.”
New Zealand snap South Africa’s unbeaten run
Seifert (58 off 33) and Allen (100* off 33) effectively settled the contest inside the powerplay, stitching together a blistering 117-run stand from just 55 balls. Although Seifert departed after his half-century, Allen carried on to register the fastest hundred in T20 World Cup history, ending South Africa’s unbeaten streak and sealing their exit at the semi-final stage.
New Zealand have now advanced to their second T20 World Cup final and will meet the winner of the second semi-final between India national cricket team and England cricket team in the final on 8 March in Ahmedabad.
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