NZ's Cole McConchie got them off to the perfect start, taking 2 wickets in 2 balls in the second over of the game. Rachin Ravindra joined the party soon after, taking 2 more. New Zealand dropped two catches, but South Africa were still struggling at 77/5 after 10.2 overs. 

Then, the rebuild started. Marco Jansen fired 5 maximums, ending on 55 off 30, while Tristan Stubbs also chipped in. However, just as it seemed SA would get to 180+, Matt Henry's excellent last over, including 2 more wickets, restricted the Proteas to 169/8.

20 overs done, South Africa get to 169/8. Jansen and Maharaj scramble 2 runs on the final ball of the last over. Excellent end by Matt Henry, who concedes just 6 runs and takes 2 wickets in the final over.

South Africa were in deep trouble at one stage, but Jansen and Stubbs have given them a fighting chance.

SA 169/8 (20)

NZ Target: 170

OUT! Big wicket for New Zealand in the final over, as Matt Henry cleans up Corbin Bosch. Slightly slower, and Bosch fails to make connection. Importantly, it has kept Marco Jansen off strike, with 3 balls remaining.

And Rabada departs the very next ball! Tries a big shot, gets caught at long-on. Matt Henry is on a hattrick!

SA 166/8 (19.4)

Half-century for Marco Jansen! He smashes 2 brutal sixes against Lockie Ferguson to get to the landmark in 27 balls. 5 sixes in the innings now for Jansen. How important will this knock be? It has given South Africa something to fight with.

SA 163/6 (19)

GONE! Top delivery! Ferguson gets Stubbs. The pick of the Kiwi pacers comes back for the 19th over and dismisses Tristan Stubbs straight away. Stubbs goes for another heave, misses, ends up losing his wicket.

SA 150/6 (18.1)

Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen goes big! South Africa clearly targetting James Neesham here. Stubbs hammers one down the ground for 4, and then clobbers the next ball over deep mid-wicket for 6. Jansen picks up 4 down fine-leg, and then smashes 6 on the leg-side! 22 off the over, 150 up!

SA 150/5 (18)

Marco Jansen, huge shot! Terrific bat swing and the ball goes many a mile over cow corner for 6. The shot comes against NZ pacer Matt Henry, who is back into the attack in the death overs.

Couple of balls later, Henry pitches it short and gets hammered through deep mid-wicket by Stubbs! 50-run partnership up off 43 balls between Jansen and Stubbs.

SA 128/5 (17)

South Africa have 5 overs left, and they're already past the 100-run mark. The depth of their batting, with Stubbs and Jansen at the crease and Bosch and Rabada to come, means that a really good late phase could even help them charge towards 160 or 170. That would be a great effort from here.

SA 108/5 (15)

100 up for South Africa in 13.5 overs. It is their slowest 100 of the tournament. Jansen's big shots is allowing Stubbs to settle in at the other end, but he nearly handed a gift to New Zealand with a top edge. Was just too far for wicket-keeper Tim Seifert.

SA 101/5 (14)

Jansen goes massive! Comes down the track and hammers Rachin Ravindra over long-on, clears the ropes with ease. The 6'8"-tall star showing his all-round capabilities here and taking SA close to the 100-run mark.

SA 98/5 (13.2)

Much-needed runs! Edged and goes for 4 through third-man. New Zealand are firmly on top here, but South Africa have a deep batting lineup, so they'll still be hoping to put up a respectable total. Jansen picks up the boundary on this occasion.

SA 91/5 (13)

Another wicket! Dewald Brevis GONE! James Neesham returns to the attack, and dismisses Brevis with his second ball. Another soft dismissal, straight to Santner at cover. South Africa have half their batting back in the hut!

SA 77/5 (10.2)

Maximum from Dewald Brevis, but David Miller departs! It's all happening out here at the Eden Gardens. Brevis nails his timing, Miller doesn't. This time, Daryl Mitchell gets underneath at long-off and makes no mistake.

SA 77/4 (10)

Glenn Phillips drops a sitter! How rare is that!? One of the best catchers in the world has let one slip at deep extra-cover. Miller mistimes his big shot, it should've been taken, Phillips seemed to have it under control, but then the ball pops out!

SA 69/3 (9.1)

Big shot! Dewald Brevis slams his first maximum of the game. A lot of pressure on the talented youngster, with the top 3 batters back in the dugout. David Miller at the crease now too.

SA 63/3 (8.1)

GONE! Massive wicket! Aiden Markram looks to go big, but gets caught by Daryl Mitchell at deep mid-wicket. A long check to see whether it was a clean catch, but Mitchell seemed to have his fingers just underneath. SA 3 down!

Rachin Ravindra, who dropped him earlier, has now taken his wicket.

SA 55/3 (7.4)

NZ captain Mitchell Santner comes in to bowl right after the powerplay, and starts off neat. 50 comes up for SA in 6.4 overs. Just 4 singles off Santner's first over. The initial wickets clearly seem to have put the Proteas batters under a bit of pressure.

SA 52/2 (7)

New Zealand wicket-keeper Tim Seifert, who was keeping wickets without a helmet, gets hit on the face after a searing bouncer from Lockie Ferguson on the final ball of the powerplay. A concussion test is carried out, and Seifert looks okay to continue.

End of the powerplay. South Africa lost 2 massive wickets, in the form of Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton, in the second over. However, Markram was dropped by Ravindra, and then him and Brevis have begun the rebuild. A great over by Lockie Ferguson, though, to end the first 6.

SA 48/2 (6)

Terrific shot! Markram slams it over cow corner with immense elegance, all the way for 6. Couple of balls later, Brevis joins the party, and slams a boundary through the covers. Graceful from the youngster.

And then another boundary, through extra cover! First big over for SA, 17 off it.

SA 45/2 (5)

Oh dear! Rachin Ravindra drops a sitter! This could be a massive moment in the game, it's Aiden Markram he has put down. The SA captain nudged it straight to Ravindra at short mid-wicket. Ravindra has to dive forward, but that was a simple catch. 

Markram goes an drives a boundary through the covers very next ball, rubbing salt on Ravindra's wounds.

SA 26/2 (3.4)

Edged, but safe! No slip in place, so Dewald Brevis' thick outside edge goes for 4 through third-man. Terrific over for Cole McConchie, and South Africa are under immense pressure early on.

SA 16/2 (2)

Incredible! 2 wickets in 2 balls for Cole McConchie! He is on a hattrick, as Ryan Rickelton departs very first ball. Unbelievable start for New Zealand at the Eden Gardens. Rickelton's shot goes straight to Finn Allen at gully!

SA 12/2 (1.5)

GONE! Quinton de Kock perishes in the second over! New Zealand opt to go with spinner Cole McConchie with the new ball, and he delivers! De Kock stepped out and slammed him for 4, but then gets out trying to play another big shot. Mistimes it, and gets caught at mid-on. Simple catch for Lockie Ferguson.

SA 12/1 (1.4)

Maximum! First one of the evening comes off Quinton de Kock's bat. Slightly shorter and de Kock pulls it over deep square-leg for 6. However, apart from that, Henry keeps it tight. 7 off the first.

SA 7/0 (1)

We are LIVE! South Africa are out to open with Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock. New Zealand open the bowling with pacer Matt Henry. These are 3 players who've had good tournaments so far, but who'll win the powerplay battle today?

Markram gets off the mark first ball with a single, nudge down to leg-side.

SA 1/0 (0.1)

Harsha Bhogle, on commentary, says that there's already a bit of dew at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This could help out South Africa in their attempt to put up a big total. Dew is mainly the reason teams opt to bowl first here.

New Zealand's decision to bowl puts the pressure on Aiden Markram and co. Him, de Kock and Rickelton have done well most of the tournament, but they'll have to put up a healthy score on board to defend on the Eden surface.

New Zealand XI vs SA: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (c), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson.

1 change for NZ: Neesham replaces Ish Sodhi!

South Africa XI vs NZ: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.

3 changes for SA: Rabada, Jansen and Maharaj come back in!

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has won the toss and opted to bowl! The coin toss falls in favour of the Black Caps, as they look to avenge their group stage defeat over the Proteas. South Africa to bat first at Eden Gardens!

We are just about 15 minutes away from toss time at the Eden Gardens. This is a stadium where due often plays a big role in evening games, so we could see the toss-winning captain opt to bowl tonight.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram has had a superb tournament. He enters the semi-final as the third-highest run-scorer of the tournament so far, with 268 runs in 7 matches, at a strike-rate of 175+, including 3 half-centuries.

His most devastating knock of the tournament came in the group game against New Zealand, where he smashed 86* off just 44 balls. He'll be hoping to recreate those heroics today!

Interestingly, New Zealand's top 3 batters - Finn Allen, Tim Seifert and Rachin Ravindra - are all set to play for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the upcoming IPL 2026. KKR play their home games at the Eden Gardens, the venue of today's semi-final. The KKR trio are certain to get that extra bit of support from the crowd, but will that bring them any luck?

Two players who have regularly stood up and delivered for South Africa in this ongoing T20 World Cup have been David Miller and Tristan Stubbs, most notably in the dramatic double Super Over game against Afghanistan and the terrific Super 8 win over reigning champions India. 

New Zealand's middle-order have not fired uniformly in this tournament. While openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen have provided starts in almost every game, the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell haven't been able to perform consistently, including in their group stage game against South Africa.

South Africa may hold the head-to-head advantage over New Zealand in T20 World Cups, but NZ have the edge when it comes to semi-finals in ICC tournaments. NZ have won both times the two nations have faced off in an ICC semi: in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy.

South Africa have met New Zealand 5 times previously in T20 World Cup history. Amazingly, SA have won on all 5 occasions! That statistic could give them a bit of a psychological edge heading into the big clash today.

New Zealand are on the hunt for revenge. The Black Caps were convincingly beaten by the Proteas during the group stage, as SA chased down a target of 176 with nearly 3 overs to spare. Can Santner and co. get revenge tonight?

New Zealand have suffered two defeats en route to the T20 World Cup 2026 semis, but they've had contributions from several different players. Almost each match, there's been a new hero. Tim Seifert and Finn Allen fired big knocks during the group stages, while Glenn Phillips has bailed them out on a couple of chases. Captain Mitch Santner, Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie thrived in the spin-friendly Sri Lankan conditions, while pacer Matt Henry has had a really consistent tournament.

For the second T20 World Cup in a row, South Africa are looking to make the final without losing a single game. They were unbeaten all the way up to the final in the 2024 edition, and if they win today, they'll do the same again!

A very warm welcome to one and all, to the live coverage of the T20 World Cup 2026! It is the first semi-final today, as South Africa and New Zealand face off once again, this time at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Stay tuned to NDTV Sports for all the live updates from the match!