SA favourites against NZ in first semifinal
It promises to be another run-fest as South Africa and New Zealand square off in the first semifinal of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.South Africa, the current World Test Championship winners, haven’t won a major white-ball trophy so far, but were being counted as the favourites by cricket pundits even before the start of the tournament. They have been unbeaten in the tournament so far. The Aiden Markram-led side have a psychological edge over New Zealand after beating them in the group game in Ahmedabad where the captain smashed 86 off just 44 balls in a chase of 176.The big question is will they repeat that performance. “New Zealand is a quality team. We had a good run against them in the group stage but both teams have played a lot of cricket since then. It’s a completely fresh start tomorrow, and being a semifinal, it is exciting as well. So I don’t think it’s as straightforward as just being able to repeat that again, a lot of variables in this game. We will try bring our best game to the front again,” said Markram who is the best opener in the tournament so far with 268 runs in his kitty.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner does not believe that his team is an underdog in the contest.
The two teams had earlier clashed in a high profile match during the 50-over World Cup semifinal in 2015 when the Black Caps edged out the Proteas in a nail-biter. However, South Africa have never lost to New Zealand in T20 World Cups, winning all five contests.
