Rickelton, at No.3, had a crack at an offbreak next ball and ended up slicing a cut to short third for a golden duck. Brevis then avoided the hat-trick, but McConchie, the 18th player included in New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad, had done his job.

With the two left-handers gone and the powerplay done, Santner introduced himself into the attack and conceded just three runs off the seventh over. The New Zealand captain helped offset the damage caused by a 17-run powerplay over from Jimmy Neesham, who had replaced legspinner Ish Sodhi.

Rachin Ravindra then struck in his first over, tossing up one at Aiden Markram’s stumps and having him caught at long-on for 18 off 20 balls. Daryl Mitchell charged in from long-on, dived forward and plucked it inches from the ground. Replays suggested it was touch-and-go, but Nitin Menon, the TV umpire, eventually ruled it as a clean catch.

After dropping Markram on 3 at midwicket, Ravindra enjoyed redemption with the ball.

Against the left-handed David Miller, Ravindra hiked his pace and aimed to hide the ball away from his swinging arc. Ravindra could have had Miller on 3 but Glenn Phillips, believe it or not, dropped a catch in the outfield. Miller added three to his tally before chipping Ravindra to Mitchell at long-off for a regulation catch. Ravindra finished with 2 for 29 in his four overs, extending his own tournament tally to 11. Among spinners, only Varun Chakravarthy, the No.1-ranked T20I bowler, has more wickets than him in this T20 World Cup.

Dewald Brevis flickered briefly for 34 off 27 balls before he was undone by the slowness of the Eden pitch. He jabbed at a drive early and ended up spooning Neesham to Santner at cover. South Africa were 77 for 5 at that point.

Marco Jansen then combined with Tristan Stubbs for a 73-run partnership for the sixth wicket – a new record for South Africa in men’s T20Is. Despite the clatter of wickets, Jansen showed his power and composure. After charging at Ravindra, his former team-mate at Washington Freedom in the MLC, and lofting him for six, Jansen lined Henry up for a no-look six over wide long-on.

He reached his half-century off 27 balls, with a six off Neesham, and finished with his T20I career best of 55 off 30 balls, including two fours and five sixes. Lockie Ferguson snapped the stand in the 19th over when he castled Stubbs for 29 off 24 balls with a nifty legcutter from around the wicket. Henry then closed out the innings with a six-run over, which also included the wickets of Corbin Bosch and Kagiso Rabada. Jansen’s half-century, though, gave South Africa’s attack something to bowl at.

That something soon turned into next to nothing once Allen took off in the chase as the dew set in at Eden Gardens. Allen faced 33 balls and sent 18 of those to or over the boundary. Rabada tried his legcutter, Lungi Ngidi dipped into his slower dipper, Jansen tried to bang it away on a hard length and Bosch offered pace, but nothing worked against Allen.

After reaching his fifty off 19 balls, Allen stormed to his ton off 33 balls. Allen shattered Chris Gayle’s previous T20 World Cup record of a 47-ball hundred against England in 2016.

It was Seifert who had made the early running, contributing 41 of the 62 New Zealand had scored in the first five overs of their chase. In the final over of the powerplay, Allen carted Bosch for a sequence of 6,4,4,4,4 as New Zealand finished with 84 for 0. It was the second-highest powerplay score in this T20 World Cup and the highest powerplay score across all knockout games in the T20 World Cup.

From thereon, it was all about Allen and his brute power. If this was a bat-off for an IPL opening spot at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Allen won it emphatically. South Africa found some respite when Rabada removed Seifert for 58, but Allen finished it off in grand style at Eden Gardens, in the company of Ravindra, another Knight Rider.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 173 for 1 in 12.5 overs (Finn Allen 100*, Tim Seifert 58, Rachin Ravindra 13*; Kagiso  Rabada 1-28) beat South Africa 169 for 8  in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 18, Quinton de Kock 10, Marco Jansen 55*, Dewald Brevis 34, Tristan Stubbs 29; Matt Henry 2-34, Cole  McConchie 2-09, Lockie Ferguson 1-29, James Neesham 1-42, Rachin Ravindra 2-29) by nine wickets

[Cricinfo]