KOLKATA: For decades, the World Cup title evaded them with the Kiwis entering three such finals (2015 and 2019 ODI World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup) but always finding themselves on the wrong side of the fence. The heartbreak is more recent for the Proteas as they lost the summit clash of the previous edition to India in a most dramatic way only a couple of years ago.
Apart from their runners-up finish in 2021, New Zealand had lost the semifinals of the tournament thrice. South Africa, meanwhile, have failed to progress to the finals twice after bowing out of the last-four stage.
This time, however, one between the two will once again march into the final on Wednesday and look to break the jinx. South Africa at the moment are favourites as they are the only unbeaten side in the tournament so far. Besides, they have also beaten New Zealand comprehensively in the group stage. Besides, New Zealand have never defeated South Africa in the T20 World with the semifinal being their sixth meeting.
But the advantage on the basis of the past results ends there as they have never defeated the Kiwis in an ICC knockout match be it the 2011 ODI World Cup quarterfinal or semifinal of the same tournament four years later. Most recently, New Zealand humbled them by 50 runs in the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal in Lahore. Apart from this, South Africa would also like to reverse the fortunes of the 2023 ODI World Cup semifinal where Australia defeated them in the semifinal at the same venue, Eden Gardens in Kolkata, before going on to win the final.
Proteas captain Aiden Markram was asked about his team's chances and law of averages catching them a day before the match. "Yeah, I don't know how it's going to work out tomorrow night. None of us do. But you can look at it through various different lenses. If you want to look at it through that, then I don't think you'd be a very clever man. If you're sitting in our changing room, I think you want to look at it from a side where you bring in a lot of confidence into a must-win game and a lot of trust in the plans and the things that we've been doing well. So it's as simple as that for us. We're not trying to do anything different tomorrow. Keep hammering away at the things that we've done well and that have got us here and If we can execute that well again tomorrow, we stand a chance," he told reporters.
His New Zealand counterpart Mitchell Santner also answered a question revolving around South Africa's current run and the historical narrative. "Yeah, I guess it's probably two teams that have been in and around it for a long time. I guess we know the heartbreak of South Africa two years ago. I think again, they're playing some very good cricket and it's shown throughout this tournament, I guess the only unbeaten team, we've been playing some decent cricket as well. So I think, yeah, I guess it's whoever turns up on the day tomorrow, whoever assesses conditions the best they can," Santner said.
No matter who wins on Wednesday, the hopes of getting a new T20 World Champion will remain alive till the final scheduled in Ahmedabad on March 8. And who knows, maybe this time one of them manages to go past history and historical narratives to write a new chapter in their cricketing folklore.