South Africa vs New Zealand Match Highlights: Date 4th March, day Wednesday and Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata… At the time when the whole of India is celebrating Holi, the festival of colors, during this time T20 World Cup 2026 The tsunami of fours and sixes that came in the innings washed away South Africa’s hopes of reaching the finals. The echoes of the explosive innings played by New Zealand’s opening batsmen will continue to be heard for many years. Finn Allen scored the fastest century of the T20 World Cup by scoring 4, 6, 6, 4 in the same over of Marco Jansen. Before him, West Indies’ legendary batsman Chris Gayle had scored a century in 47 balls against England at the Wankhede Stadium in 2016.
Finn Allen’s 33-ball innings included 8 sixes and 10 fours… and the strike rate was 303. At the same time, Tim Seifert also hit 2 sixes and 7 fours in 33 balls. His strike rate was around 176. This is why South Africa New Zealand gave a crushing defeat by 9 wickets and secured the ticket for the final of T-20 World Cup to be played in Ahmedabad. Batting first, South Africa scored 169 runs, which New Zealand achieved in just 12.5 overs. Rachin Ravindra remained unbeaten after scoring 13 runs in 11 balls.
On the basis of Finn Allen’s stormy century, the New Zealand team has reached the final of the T20 World Cup for the second time. In this match, he made the best powerplay score of 84 runs and put 100 runs on the score board in just 7.5 overs. Before Allen, no New Zealand batsman had scored a century in 33 balls in the T20 World Cup.
Most consecutive wins in ICC T20 WC
- 12* – India (2024-2026)
- 8 – South Africa (2024)
- 8 – Australia (2022-2024)
- 7 – South Africa (2024) – The consecutive winning streak ended today
- 7 – England (2010-2012)
- 7 – India (2012-2014)
Century for NZ in T20 WC
- 123 – Brendon McCullum vs BAN, Pallekele, 2012
- 104 – Glenn Phillips vs SL, Sydney, 2022
- 100* – Finn Allen vs SA, Kolkata, 2026
What record did Finn Allen make by scoring 100 runs in 33 balls?
- Fastest in T20WC
- Fastest against a full-member team in T20I
- Joint third fastest in all T20Is
- Joint fastest for a batsman in FM teams, Gambia with Sikandar Raza, Nairobi (2024)
Fastest T20I century (by balls)
- 27 – Sahil Chauhan (Estonia) vs Cyprus, Episkopi, 2024
- 29 – Muhammad Fahd (Türkiye) vs Bulgaria, Sofia, 2025
- 33 – Finn Allen (NZ) vs SA, Kolkata, 2026
- 33 – Jan Nicole Lofty-Eaton (NAM) vs NEP, Kirtipur, 2024
- 33 – Sikandar Raza (ZIM) vs Gambia, Nairobi, 2024
Previous fastest century in T20 WC: 47 balls by Chris Gayle against ENG at Wankhede in 2016
Who scored how many runs for South Africa?
Captain Aiden Markram scored 18, Quinton de Kock 10, Ryan Rickelton 0, Dewald Brewis 34, David Miller 6, Tristan Stubbs 29, Corbin Bosch 2 and Kagiso Rabada 0. Marco Jansen remained unbeaten on 55 runs in 30 balls and Keshav Maharaj remained unbeaten on 1 run in 1 ball. For New Zealand, Matt Henry, Rachin Ravindra and Collie McCanchi took 2 wickets each. While Lockie Ferguson and James Neesham got 1-1 wicket.
What did Finn Allen say on being named player of the match?
- Finn Allen, who became the player of the match, said after his explosive century in the semi-finals that this is one of the best innings of his career. He said smilingly, “Yes, this innings will definitely be among my most special innings. My focus was only on getting in the right position and giving a strong performance for the team.”
- On strategy with opening partner Tim Seifert, he told that the plan was to put pressure on the bowlers from the beginning. He said, “We wanted to play straight and push them on the back foot early on. When Timmy is playing like that, it becomes easier for me. I can wait for the ball to come in my area and then hit the shot. His batting gave us a great start.”
- When asked how he maintains his rhythm when he receives continuous strikes, Allen said that it is easier to maintain energy in a big match like a semi-final. “It was a big match for us. We both kept communicating with each other constantly – whether on strike or not, the focus was just to play straight and hit the ball hard. We both enjoyed every moment on the field,” he said.
- On changes according to the pitch and conditions, Allen said that preparation and practice play an important role. He said, “It is important to adapt to each wicket. There was a black soil pitch here and we had the experience of playing on such wickets in the India series before the World Cup. The information gained from that series was very useful for us.”
- Expressing happiness on reaching the final, he said, “It feels good, but there is still work to do. We will definitely celebrate a little by taking the positive aspects of this victory together, but the real goal is to win the final on Sunday.”
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