South Africa get job done against feisty Zimbabwe to top group, meet New Zealand in semis

Match Overview

South Africa and Zimbabwe locked horns in the 51st match, their last of the Super Eights of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday, March 1. Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza won the toss and elected to bat first.

The Men in Red had a subpar start to their innings as the Proteas pacers sent back the openers by the fifth over with just 28 runs on the board. Significantly, Brian Bennett who has been their star batter was out for just 15 runs this time around. Dion Myers and Raza then came together as the skipper led the charge to take the team to 45/2 at the end of the powerplay.

Raza continued to strike with the same intent as Myers just played the role of giving his captain the strike as much as he could. The 38-run partnership came to an end with George Linde dismissing Myers in the ninth over. Two overs later, Zimbabwe suffered a double blow in the form of Ryan Burl and Tony Munyonga which left them reeling at 87/5 in the 12th over.

Raza was still in the middle and joined by Clive Madande. The duo built another crucial partnership which saw the skipper complete his 17th fifty off 29 balls before Kwena Maphaka returned to end his stay in the 17th over. Meanwhile, Madande, along with minor support from the lower order, took Zimbabwe 153/7 in their 20 overs which looked below par.

Raza continued to have a great day in the field as the off spinner struck off the third ball of the chase to dismiss Quinton de Kock. The 39-year-old came back for his next over and clean bowled his counterpart Aiden Markram to leave South Africa 14/2 in the third over. But, Dewald Brevis and Ryan Rickelton took control of the proceedings to avoid any immediate loss of wickets and added 29 runs for the third wicket.

Brevis formed a critical partnership next with David Miller as the duo reduced the required run rate considerably to bring it down to around six. The partnership, however, came to an end soon after it reached the 50-run mark as Miller was sent packing by Blessing Muzarabani. Four balls later, Brevis too was out to a brilliant catch by Ryan Burl as Raza brought about another breakthrough.

South Africa found themselves at 101/5 in the 11th over and the Zimbabweans tied down the run flow relatively. Tristan Stubbs and Linde, however, avoided taking undue risks and took their team to victory in the 18th over with five wickets in hand. The Men in Green finished on top of Group 1 and will play New Zealand in the first semi-final at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, March 4.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Sikandar Raza

The Zimbabwean skipper produced an all-round performance to help his team put up a strong fight against the Proteas line-up. Raza played his own game despite the early strikes and formed a couple of significant stands to take the Men in Red out of trouble twice.

The skipper led the way during the defence as his wily off-spin conjured two crucial blows of De Kock and Markram in the first three overs. Though the match situation was not much in favour later on when he sent back Brevis the team did not give up at any stage thanks to the captain's determination.

Turning Point

The fourth-wicket partnership between Miller and Brevis took the game away from Zimbabwe and brought South Africa in a comfortable position by the time it ended. The required rate was hovering around eight when the duo came together in the middle and it came down to just over six in the next 25 balls.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Aiden Markram (SA)

"Yeah, nice to get the win. Can be a tricky one when you change the team up a bit, some boys not playing, but thought the bowlers and fielders really stepped up today. Would've loved to be clinical with the bat but probably not the worst thing that the middle order was put under pressure and came through. Least you can do is give opportunity to the guys working behind the scenes. Never know if you're gonna need them. Can get to conditions that scream out to play one of them and now they've got a game under their belt."

"Yeah, exciting. Really exciting semifinal. Kolkata. Against New Zealand I believe. The boys will be up for it in a couple of days time. You look at playing one really good game of cricket and hopefully the result takes care of itself. Still 40 overs of good cricket needed and we need to give it that respect."

Losing Team Captain, Sikandar Raza (ZIM)

"Certainly qualifying (to the Super Eights) was a big step. Getting a ticket to the next World Cup without the qualifiers, massive achievement. I think in these Super 8s, as much as we have lost, Pommie (Mbangwa), but I can assure you, the lessons we have taken on. After the first game, we got better. After the second game, we even got better. So these are the things that when I look into my team and I say, you know what, we are learning, we are growing, and as a captain, I couldn't have asked for more and I couldn't be any more proud of the boys. So as a captain and as a leader, I'm very, very proud of this bunch of boys because I genuinely felt that we got better with every game that went on. And hopefully when we come back to the ICC event next time, we'll be even better."