SA vs NZ

10:33 PM local time and IST: That will be that from the Eden Gardens in Kolkata! Congratulations to New Zealand on what has been a strong performance in this semi-final, to become the first team to reach the Final! Now, the action shifts to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, to find out who joins the Blackcaps for the summit clash on Sunday. India will take on England in the 2nd semi-final tomorrow, from 7:00 PM local time and IST. Do join us for that one, friends, it promises to be an absolute humdinger! This is the duo of Sourabh and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda! 

Fastest hundreds in T20 World Cups:

Finn Allen (NZ) - 33 balls vs South Africa, Kolkata, today* (first ever in a T20 WC knockout)
Chris Gayle (WI) - 47 balls vs England, Mumbai, 2016
Chris Gayle (WI) - 50 balls vs South Africa, Jo'Burg, 2007
Harry Brook (ENG) - 50 balls vs Pakistan, Pallekele, 2026
Brendon McCullum - 51 balls vs Bangladesh, Pallekele, 2012

Mitchell Santner (New Zealand captain): "(First thoughts) It was nice! Knowing how good South Africa are, in a crunch game, to win like this, is pretty nice.......

(On whether they learnt how to go about it against South Africa from the last outing) Every time you play, you learn. That game against them in Ahemedabad, they were excellent, specially on that wicket. We learnt how to get our plans right from that.....

(On the bowling changes and plans) We wanted to use Cole (McConchie) against the left-handers, and of course, we thought that if it does turn, he can help. But, we didn't want to risk him against the hard-hitting right-handers!........

(On the opening partnership with the bat) Both Tim (Seifert) and Finn (Allen) played incredibly well! They backed themselves, they made the shots tick and they got us the runs.....

(On Finn Allen's innings) As for Finn, a 100 off 33 balls is good, isn't it?.......

(On the final) We have to assess quite a few things now that we are in the final on Sunday. We have to make sure that we read the pitch correctly and also, get our plans right." 

Aiden Markram (South Africa captain) is first up, here are this thoughts: (can he put a finger on what went wrong today?) You look at the conditions, they bowled really well up front. The ball was not quite coming on, some were stopping and some were hitting quite low on the bat, they made scoring really tough. Through that pressure builds, you lose wickets unfortunately, give credit to their bowling unit and with the bat if someone plays an innings like that don't think you will come out on the right side of the result as a fielding side

(Thoughts on the score of 170 in the first innings) To get to 170 was a great effort to be fair. At the halfway point, we felt we had a sniff. But as it goes in T20 cricket, the powerplay got off to flier, can't protect every boundary and they got away. Massive credit to Finn Allen and Tim Seifert's knocks to kill the game that early, just a bad night for us

(What could they have done better in hindsight?) Hard to say right now. We will reflect as a group. We expected the wicket to play really well. Looked really good to the eye, potentially could have adapted and go back to the old-school way, scrap up to 190. Disappointed with the result but proud of the way this group has played, just an unfortunate evening

(What will he say to his group?) Let the emotions settle first and foremost and then we will have a discussion as a group, breakdown the game and try and find areas where we could have been better. Get back on the horse, try and improve as a group and individuals which would hopefully put us in good stead in the future. Not a slap in the face but it feels like it, we will have to come out stronger and better as a group

The Legend: "Feel for the proteas 🥲... Last world Cup the final and now the semi final.. And were unbeaten till then"
Heartbreaking for the Proteas, indeed!

Unsurprisingly Finn Allen is the Player of the Match for smashing the fastest ever T20 WC history (100* off 33 balls), here is what he had to say: (Was this the best he has ever played?) Yeah, I'd say it is pretty up there. Wanted to get into good positions and get the team in a good position

(Flying start with Seifert) We wanted to start looking straight, try and put them on the backfoot early. Easy for me when Timmy (Seifert) is going like that, I can watch and hit it when it is in my area, try and give him the strike. He got us off to an absolute flyer. It is easier in a semi-final to stay up for the fight, huge game for us. With Timmy, we keep each other in it, enjoyed out there together

(going from pitch to pitch) You adapt to the wicket, training is really important to get the feeling of what the wicket would be like. When you come here, black soil which the boys played a lot on in the India series before the World Cup, lot of intel from that and shows how important that series was for us

(feeling of being in a final) You take the positives from this game, celebrate a little bit and then we have got a final to win on Sunday

9:56 PM local time and IST: MATCH SUMMARY

New Zealand (173/1 in 12.5 overs) beat South Africa (169/8 in 20 overs) by 9 wickets)

Finn Allen 100*(33) | Cole McConchie 2/9(1)
Marco Jansen 55*(30) | Kagiso Rabada 1/28(3)

New Zealand have simply blown South Africa away in this match! 

Whatever happened in the 1st innings, happened. But, what transpired in the 2nd innings, was simply sensational from the Blackcaps! Simply out of the world! 

Runs didn't only come, they poured! Tim Seifert and Finn Allen began slightly edgily, but once the middle of the bat started to come in to play more, there was no stopping the opening partnership! 

Kagiso Rabada did stop it, when he cleaned Seifert up in the 10th over, but by then, New Zealand had posted 117 runs on the board! When it was the halfway stage of the innings, all they required was 46 runs. Tells you how dominating they were!

South Africa were all over the place. Be it in terms of their line. Be it in terms of their length. Be it in terms of their pace. Be it, in their fielding. Be it, in Aiden Markram's captaincy. 

South Africa, were a team that looked like a pale shadow of what they were till this stage! They were expected to take this innings deep. They were expected to read the pitch better and plan accordingly. Most importantly, they were supposed to execute their plans. They disappointed in all respects! 

Come Finn Allen, and we now have the fastest T20 World Cup century. And, it is an unbeaten one. And, it is a match-winning one! Can it get any better for his team or himself? 

Seifert. by the way, was dismissed only after scoring a fifty. And, Rachin Ravindra himself scored a couple of boundaries in his 13*. So, there was no putting a halt to this batting effort! 

Yes the pitch got better for batting. Yes there was just a bit more dew in the 2nd innings, as compared to the 1st innings. But, it was a commanding effort, a thumping performance from the team that truly deserves to be in the final! 

As for South Africa, who were the only unbeaten side in the competition till now, and the best of the tournament too, it is another heartbreak at the semi-final stage of an ICC event! 

Understood that they didn't play anywhere else part from in Ahmedabad and New Delhi, but, in a World Cup semi-final, you have no excuses. You have to give it your everything to win. That, unfortunately, they couldn't do tonight. 

South Africans are stunned, Kiwis are over the moon. The Blackcaps dugout is all on its feet, they have witnessed an absolute masterclass tonight from Finn Allen who has scored the fastest-ever T20 World Cup century and it has rocketed the Kiwis into a T20 World Cup final for just the second time!

12.5 Marco Jansen to Finn Allen, FINN ALLEN SCORES HIS CENTURY! NEW ZEALAND BOOK A SPOT IN THE T20 WORLD CUP FINAL! THE EDEN GARDENS HAS WITNESSED A BLACKCAPS MASTERCLASS! Full and around off-stump. Allen stays leg-side of the ball, uses the width to his advantage and spanked it to over the right of mid-off, for an authoritative boundary! The entire New Zealand camp, and, all their fans in the crowd, is elated! South Africa, well, their supporters cannot believe what just transpired today.

12.4 Marco Jansen to Finn Allen, SIX MORE! THE SCORES ARE LEVEL! Good length, slow and on off-stump. Slammed on the up, off the front foot, with bent knees, over long-on! New balls please.