South Africa's Marco Jansen of South Africa celebrates with Dewald Brevis after taking the wicket of Rachin Ravindra during the T20 World Cuyp match against New Zealand at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India. (Photo: Prakash Singh/Getty Images) 
Lungi Ngidi has been South Africa’s best bowler at the T20 World Cup to date. The 29-year-old added one more wicket as the Proteas beat New Zealand by seven wickets on Saturday, 14 February, taking his overall tally in the tournament to eight wickets from three matches so far.
The Proteas’ towering all-rounder, Marco Jansen, joined Ngidi among South Africa’s top wicket-takers with a haul of four for 40 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium. With his player of the match display in Ahmedabad, Jansen propelled his wicket haul to seven, just one behind Ngidi.
Ngidi starred in the Proteas’ first to two matches as they beat Canada by 57 runs and then squeezed past Afghanistan with a four-run double Super Over victory.
/file/attachments/2988/2261626964_274881.jpg "Aiden Markram scored an impressive 86 not out against New Zealand. (Photo: Nikhil Patil/Getty Images)")
Jansen stands tall
Against New Zealand it was Jansen who stepped up. He skittled the Black Caps’ top order, reducing them to 58 for three. Jansen claimed the coveted wickets of Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra and Finn Allen
South Africa’s premier spin bowler, Keshav Maharaj, who will become more important as the tournament progresses due to India’s spin-friendly pitches, claimed South Africa’s fourth wicket of the day. That was before Jansen returned for another bite of the cherry, claiming his fourth wicket of the day with the dismissal of Mark Chapman.
Chapman was two runs shy of his half-century when Jansen struck for the last time. His wicket was yet another significant one for the Proteas as it ended New Zealand’s comeback attempt after their early collapse. Jansen’s intervention ended a 74-run partnership between Chapman and sixth man Daryl Mitchell.
Ngidi and Tristan Stubbs combined to dismiss Mitchell two overs later. The New Zealand batter was desperate after South Africa had managed to string together a few dot balls to frustrate the Black Caps batters following the dismissal of Chapman.
/file/attachments/2988/2261620849_469137.jpg "Left-arm seamer Marco Jansen was named man-of-the-match for taking 4-40 against New Zealand. (Photo by Prakash Singh/Getty Images)")
Aiden marks the spot
After the Proteas bowlers had managed to restrict New Zealand’s batters, up stepped South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram with his second half-century of the 2026 T20 World Cup. He added an unbeaten 86 from 44 balls to guide his team to victory for the match.
Markram’s fellow opener Quinton de Kock became the first South Africa batter, and the 13th overall, to score 3,000 runs in T20 international matches. De Kock fell to Lockie Ferguson for 20 runs after just five overs.
But Ryan Rickelton, David Brevis and David Miller added 66 runs between them to help Markram in his quest to hand the Proteas a third victory in the tournament.
New Zealand came into the match on the back of two comfortable matches. The Kiwis handed Afghanistan a five-wicket loss before demolishing the United Arab Emirates by 10 wickets.
In the lead-up to the fixture, New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry had likened the clash to a battle between the Springboks and the All Blacks.
“You always want to play the best sides, and we’ve grown up with the South Africa and New Zealand rivalry. With rugby and cricket, it’s always those games you want to be a part of,” said Henry.
“So it’s always exciting to play South Africa… And nothing changes in a World Cup. They’re always going to be strong in all areas,” he added.
This time around it is the South Africans who walked away with the bragging rights. DM