South Africa kept their unbeaten record in the ICC T20 World Cup when they beat Zimbabwe by five wickets in their final Group 1 Super Eights match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday.
South Africa, who have won all seven of their matches to date, will now meet New Zealand in one of the semifinals.
The win, with 13 balls to spare, appeared comfortable enough, but Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza, who had earlier struck a superb 73 to give the Zimbabwe innings some ballast, gave the Proteas an early fright as they began their chase of Zimbabwe’s moderate total of 153 for seven.
First, the mystery spinner had Quinton de Kock caught behind for a duck with his third ball of the opening over, then he castled Aiden Markram with one that kept a little low in his second over.
Ryan Rickelton and Dewald Brevis played aggressively to add 29 off 18 balls with Rickelton cutting loose after being dazed by a blow on the helmet from paceman Brad Evans.
The left-hander eventually continued after a long break in play but succumbed to Evans attempting a fifth six, superbly caught at long-on by Ryan Burl.
David Miller replaced Rickelton and he and Brevis maintained South Africa’s helter-skelter progress, adding 50 in 25 balls, before both men fell in quick succession.
Miller guided a delivery from Blessing Mazarabani to short third, as if he was giving the fielder catching practice, while Brevis, after slamming a typically exuberant 42 off 18 balls (2x4s, 4x6s), chose the wrong ball to hit in Raza’s final over, clothing a slog-sweep to long-on where Burl took a good catch running forward.
At the halfway stage of the innings, South Africa were well ahead of the run-rate but – with half the team out – they needed some cool heads to take them over the line.
This service was duly provided by Tristan Stubbs and George Linde who were able to play relatively conservatively, adding 53 off 44 balls in the second half of the innings before clinching victory with 13 balls to spare.
Stubbs finished on 21 off 24 balls while a more aggressive Linde struck 30 off 21.
🚨 MATCH RESULT 🚨
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) March 1, 2026
From the Group Stage to the Super 8, #TheProteas continue to dominate the #T20WorldCup! 💪😎
Capping off an unbeaten road to the knockouts with a disciplined five-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in Delhi. 🇿🇦🏏#Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/0htYbT6POv
LONE HAND
Earlier, Raza had played virtually a lone hand with a fine 73 off 43 balls as South Africa’s pace attack restricted Zimbabwe to 153 for seven wickets.
Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first on an excellent pitch for batting with a lightning fast outfield. South Africa made three changes to their team, with Kwena Mphaka and Anrich Nortje replacing Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen while spinner Linde stepped in for Keshav Maharaj.
And it was Mphaka who made the breakthrough in his opening over, ripping out the leg stump of Tadiwanashe Marumani as the ball angled into the right-hand batter.
Brian Bennett, in splendid form in this competition, was the next to go, again to a “super-sub”, as he mistimed an off-drive off Nortje to Markram at mid-off.
Raza, however, was in fine form as he dominated a third-wicket partnership of 38 in 24 balls with Dion Myers before Myers played too soon at a slower ball from Linde, lofting the ball to Brevis at wide long-on.
Raza, who struck the ball beautifully through the covers and the on-side with sweeps and pulls, cracked eight fours and four sixes in his innings – his first half-century in the competition – but the other batters struggled with the South African pace attack with the likes of Nortje and Bosch bowling consistently over the 140kph mark.
But once again it was Lungi Ngidi, who has enjoyed a magnificent tournament to date, who impressed the most with his control and variation of pace as he claimed 1-29 off his four overs.
Mphaka was also excellent, taking the key wicket of Raza, caught off a leading edge by Miller at point. The young left-arm paceman finished with the excellent figures of 2-21 in four overs while Bosch grabbed 2-40.
Not surprisingly, Raza was made player of the match for his half-century and fine figures of 3-29. “We’ve got better with every match,” the Zimbabwean skipper said afterwards, “and we go home filled with optimism that we can continue our improvement.”
A performance worthy of the Player of the Match award 🇿🇼🏆
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 1, 2026
Sikander Raza signs off from the #T20WorldCup in style 👏#SSCricket pic.twitter.com/gNABVtROgT
South Africa’s skipper Aiden Markram said it was “nice to get the win. It can be tricky bringing in new players and we would like to have been more clinical with the bat, but we came through and I was pleased with our bowling and fielding. Now it’s time to look forward to meeting New Zealand in Kolkota.”
ZIMBABWE: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (capt), Tony Munyonga, Clive Madande, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Kwena Maphaka, Corbin Bosch, George Linde, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje