🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: First Semi-Final- SA vs NZ🏏 - Page 6

New Zealand chose to field

Aiden Markram: (On his team's showing in the tournament) I think everyone's sort of contributed at some stage throughout the comp. It hasn't felt like you're leaning on a couple of guys, which is a good space to be as a team. Obviously really pumped up about the idea of a semi-final tonight and hopefully we can start off well with the bat and get a good score on the board. Yeah, there's a slight dew factor. We trained here last night. There was a little bit of moisture around. But again you can put runs on the board up front in a knockout game and that's not always the worst thing. So, yeah, important to start well and hopefully get a good score. We've got three changes, so back to our more usual team. So KG (Rabada) comes back in, Marco (Jansen) comes back in and so does Kesh (Maharaj).

Mitchell Santner: We're going to have a bowl. I guess we had a little look the other night at what the pitch looked like. It looked pretty good. It should be pretty flat again, so try and make some inroads at the start and try and restrict them to a score. We know they're (South Africa) a great outfit, as they've shown throughout this tournament. So yeah, we know we've got to be on. And I guess, semi-final, there's always a little bit of pressure, but I think if we can just go out there and do our thing and see what happens and put them under pressure in periods and I guess we'll see what happens. Matty Henry's made it back in time, which is nice. So he's obviously in. We've got one change from our Colombo game. It's probably not going to spin as much over as it did over there, so Neesham is back in for Ish (Sodhi).

6:52pm More than 50000 people are expected to come in. A couple f stands still empty. If you're around the stadium, it's a good time to get in. Sourav Ganguly got the trophy up on the podium. Then the players follow for the National Anthems.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

Wow! Lovely to see lot of kids in the stadium. Plenty of infants in the South African supporters group

Pete : "On paper NZ should be able to chase 220+. Neesham-Santner-McConchie might be a strongest 7-8-9 I've ever seen in a T20. Interesting match."

SidharthMara: "Whoever wins the spin game, wins the match. Middle overs are pretty rough these days, if NZ can bowl more off spin, they have chance here" Good point, Katey Martin said on air that Cole McConchie's selection was kept with SA's lhbs in mind

5.30pm After 52 matches, some unforgettable moments and a whole lot of gripping cricket, we are now just three matches away from deciding the winner of the 2026 T20 World Cup. And the first semi-final has all the makings of a classic, pitting New Zealand against South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. These two have served up some special games in ICC knockout games. Think 2011. Think 2015. Think 2025. Will we get another humdinger today?

5.35pm South Africa are looking to make back-to-back T20 World Cup finals. New Zealand are aiming to make their second final, after getting there in 2021. Neither of them have ever won the whole thing, and both are looked at as the perennial underdogs. One of the two will have a chance to get to the final and then get an upgrade to the main characters.

5.50pm Eden Gardens has been the scene of both his biggest triumph and galling loss, but Marco Jansen is back with new weapons in his armoury.

6pm South Africa and ICC tournaments... that does tend to bring about mention of a certain world starting with 'C'... But the current head coach and captain are having none of it. Firdose wrote about how the Proteas are looking to exorcise demons of the past at this World Cup semi-final.

6.29pm Aaron Finch's pitch report: "My initial thought is, there are a couple of cracks right down that offstump line to a right-hander. When you come down and push on 'em, and they move slightly so that tells me straightaway that with the brand new ball, there might be a hint of inconsistent bounce. But as soon as that ball loses its shine, it turns into an absolute beauty. You have to take dew into account. It's always a what if though. There are times when you go 'you know what, I hope that comes in.' I expect it to come in. I spoke to the groundsman and he said there was minimal the other night. Expect more tonight. I think if you get up around that 190-mark you'll be right in that game. The wicket will get better and better as the game goes on."

Chuvi : "Feel SA would aim to blaze away in the PP "

Reinier: "Do you think the toss makes a big difference on this pitch? Sometimes it looks like a massive advantage to the extent that it reduces the game to a 50-50 gamble on a coin. " Yeah, especially if dew is high. SA being favourites makes it more interesting though

Sowmya : "Mitch Santner hasn't got the credit for his role as a finisher ! His batting has become reliable !" It's something folks have slept on. Al Muthu did write about it: 'Between this T20 World Cup and the last one, Santner has a batting strike rate of 155.3, which is probably par for the course for the position he plays in down at No. 7 or 8 but it shows a significant rise in his batting ability.'

SidharthMara: "Whoever wins the spin game, wins the match. Middle overs are pretty rough these days, if NZ can bowl more off spin, they have chance here" Good point, Katey Martin said on air that Cole McConchie's selection was kept with SA's lhbs in mind

Pete : "On paper NZ should be able to chase 220+. Neesham-Santner-McConchie might be a strongest 7-8-9 I've ever seen in a T20. Interesting match."

Reinier: "Do you think the toss makes a big difference on this pitch? Sometimes it looks like a massive advantage to the extent that it reduces the game to a 50-50 gamble on a coin. " Yeah, especially if dew is high. SA being favourites makes it more interesting though