KOLKATA -UNS/AFP:South Africa captain Aiden Markram said on Tuesday that his side’s earlier victory over New Zealand in the group stage will have no bearing on their clash in the T20 World Cup semi-final, describing the contest as a “completely fresh start”.
The two teams meet at Eden Gardens on Wednesday in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with both sides still seeking their first world title.
South Africa are the only unbeaten team among the last four and are attempting to shed their long-standing reputation for faltering in the knockout stages of World Cups. They defeated New Zealand by seven wickets during the group phase in Ahmedabad on February 15 and have been widely regarded as the team to beat in this edition.
South Africa are still recovering from a painful loss in the 2024 T20 World Cup final against India in Barbados, where they required 30 runs from the final 30 balls with six wickets in hand but fell short by seven runs after a late collapse.
In the current tournament, South Africa have beaten India and the West Indies in the Super Eights, leading many observers to label them favourites for the title.
“With regard to being favourites or not, that’s just different people’s opinions,” Markram said.
“As a team, we focus on putting good games of cricket together and playing the exciting brand of cricket we’ve been trying to build over the past 18 months.”
