Mitchell Santner’s mind game before the semi-finals, sprinkled salt on South Africa’s wounds!

New Delhi: The first semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is with South Africa and New Zealand. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner shrugged off the underdog tag ahead of the semi-final against unbeaten South Africa in the ongoing T20 World Cup, saying the two teams are ‘in the same boat’. South Africa has performed brilliantly in the current tournament. South Africa have made it seven consecutive wins in the tournament, including two super over wins over Afghanistan and a group stage win over New Zealand in Ahmedabad. They are the only unbeaten team of the tournament.

New Zealand’s journey has been full of ups and downs as their Super Eight match against Pakistan was abandoned due to rain and after their defeat to England, their qualification was based on net run rate. “South Africa look like a very good team as they have shown,” Santner said before the semi-final at Eden Gardens. I think they and I are in the same boat.

New Zealand is playing the semi-finals for the fourth time

He said, “Now only one match is left before the final and it will be the same for the match between India and England.” New Zealand has so far won only the World Test Championship and Champions Trophy 2000 as ICC titles but its performance in global competitions has shown consistency. The team is playing in the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the fourth time after 2007, 2016 and 2022. Apart from this, the team was the runner-up in the One Day International World Cup twice (2015 and 2019).

Santner admitted that his team is used to the tag of being a weak team. He said, “We have now got used to this label.” I think everyone’s goal in the tournament is to reach that stage (title). We are here now and we believe in ourselves that we will adapt as quickly as possible to what comes in front of us. “I think at this stage it is just a knockout match and whoever plays well will win,” the New Zealand captain said.

Centner has prepared a master plan for South Africa

This left-arm spinner said that he has planned for South Africa’s excellent batting order. Santner said, “It is no secret what South Africa can do and perhaps they also know what we can do.” Then it all depends on adjusting as quickly as possible,” he said. “But you know it’s not just about the top order. In fact, there is a lot of strength in their middle order too. So restricting them to 180 runs instead of 220 would be a good score.