Captain Aiden Markram hits an unbeaten 86 in seven-wicket defeat of New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Printed On 14 Feb 2026
South Africa are getting ready to reaching the Twenty20 World Cup’s Tremendous Eight stage after captain Aiden Markram’s storming half-century led them to a dominant seven-wicket victory over New Zealand, securing their third straight Group D win.
New Zealand on Saturday suffered their first loss within the marketing campaign after they posted 175-7 as South Africa’s Marco Jansen took 4 wickets.
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In response, opener Markram hit 4 sixes and eight boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 86 off 44 balls, the best by a South African captain within the match’s historical past, serving to his workforce attain 178-3 with 17 balls to spare.
Final version’s finalists South Africa selected to bowl first in Ahmedabad, India, and it instantly paid off as participant of the match Jansen (4-40) dismissed most of New Zealand’s high order by the seventh over.
Finn Allen (31 off 17 balls) tried to mitigate the harm after Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra fell to Jansen. However Jansen bought Allen caught at mid-off within the sixth over, leaving New Zealand struggling at 58-3.
Mark Chapman (48) and Daryl Mitchell (32) turned issues round with a 74-run partnership for the fifth wicket till Jansen bought Chapman caught by Ryan Rickelton at backward level within the 14th.
New Zealand scored solely 17 runs within the subsequent 4 overs till James Neesham’s unbeaten 23 off 15 balls bought them to a preventing complete.
Markram’s magic seals the deal for South Africa
Chasing 176, South Africa bought off to a quick begin with Markram hitting three sixes and 5 boundaries to steer his workforce to 62-0 in 4 overs.
Shedding fellow opener Quinton de Kock (20) didn’t have an effect on Markram, who hit Mitchell Santner for a six down long-on to succeed in his half-century in simply 19 balls. By the point Rickelton (21) fell within the eighth over, South Africa had already crossed the 100-run mark.
With the required run fee falling beneath six per over, Markram didn’t hit a single boundary within the subsequent seven overs and centered on rotating the strike, getting South Africa inside 28 runs of victory with 30 balls left.
“It’s about managing it by the precise phases, I suppose, however up entrance, you’ve seen how groups are taking up the powerplay and we’d be foolish to not strive that. It’s not at all times going to return off, however when it does, … we are able to get forward of the sport,” Markram mentioned.
David Miller, who scored an unbeaten 24, cleared the mid-wicket boundary to convey up the profitable runs.
South Africa will conclude their group marketing campaign towards the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, a day after New Zealand play Canada.
