South Africa didn’t make a great start with the bat after being put in at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during their first semifinal clash of the T20 World Cup 2026 against New Zealand. They had already lost both their left-handed batters of the top order, Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton, before their captain, Aiden Markram, started to recover the batting.

However, on the fourth delivery of the eighth over, Rachin Ravindra, who earlier dropped Markram inside the circle in a comfortable catch, sent back the Protea captain for 18 runs as the struggling knock of the right-handed batter for 20 balls came to an end. But all in all, it gave birth to a controversial catch of Daryl Mitchell.

See Also: Watch: Cole McConchie's two-wicket over put SA on the back foot in SA vs NZ Semifinal 1 of T20 World Cup 2026

It was fired towards the middle and leg stump of the right-handed batter, who played the loft down the ground and didn’t find the middle of the bat. It skewed off the thick inside edge and went flat towards the man at the long-on region. Mitchell ran forward and put a full-length dive to claim the catch, just a few inches above the turf.

Daryl Mitchell takes controversial catch in NZ vs SA T20 WC 2026 semifinal 

The third umpire decided to recheck the catch as it looked a bit touch-and-go. But the television umpire was delighted with the decision and felt that the fingers of the fielder were under the ball. Mitchell never claimed the catch and hinted that he was not sure, and pushed the umpires for the replay.

Watch the video here: 

What an incredible effort from Daryl Mitchell to send Aiden Markram back! 👏

What's do you think of this catch? 👀

ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup | Semi-final 1 #SAvNZ | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/LMBOn54jDE pic.twitter.com/joF4nS8qxu

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 4, 2026

South Africa didn’t bat well at all in the semifinal under pressure. Dewald Brevis went back to the hut after scoring 34 runs in 27 balls with the help of three boundaries and a pair of sixes at a strike rate of 125.93, while the others could not get the firepower.

Marco Jansen hit a few big shots, but the run rate was under 7.50, which was a concern for the management to get a strong score on the board at the end of their allotted 20 overs of the innings. They made their way to 101/5 in 14 overs.

Brief Scores: SA 128/5 (Marco Jansen 29*, Cole McConchie 2/9) vs NZ