Mumbai, Feb. 15 -- Powered by super starts in bowling as well as batting, South Africa crushed New Zealand by seven wickets in the Group D game of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Saturday. In the top of the table clash between two quality sides, left-arm pacer Marco Jansen vindicated his captain Aiden Markaram's decision to bowl first by running through the New Zealand top order, claiming the first three wickets inside the powerplay. When their turn came to bat in pursuit of a target of 176, Markram put on a dazzling display to race to his fifty off 19 balls with six fours and four sixes. Such was the ferocity of his assault that after eight overs, South Africa needed less than a run-a-ball to win. The opening batter's imperious unbeaten 86 off 44 balls helped the Proteas to their third win and take a giant stride towards qualification for the next stage of the competition. It was the kind of performance which makes them one of the teams to watch out for in this competition. All their batters came in and powered on, David Miller remained not out on 21 while Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickleton and Dewald Brevis all chipped in cameos. New Zealand versus South Africa is one of the great sports rivalries not just restricted to cricket, with their rugby games being a huge draw. Even though the game was mainly for bragging rights after the two teams had marched ahead of Afghanistan in the qualification race, a massive crowd of 50,000-plus packed the gigantic stadium in anticipation of quality cricket on Saturday evening. The crowd had also been drawn to the stadium by the action in the last game played at Motera, on Wednesday, where South Africa had pipped Afghanistan in a nail-biting finish after two Super Overs. From the team that nearly fumbled against the feisty Asian side, South Africa were a totally transformed team that the Kiwis came up against on the weekend. Markram & Co were at their clinical best and from the start were in a different class. The New Zeland opening pair of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen is among the most feared in T20. They often set the tone for their side but against the South Africa pacers, they met their match. Opening the bowling, Lungi Ngidi gave away just seven runs, while Kagiso Rabada bowled his two overs in the powerplay for just nine runs. Then their tall left-arm pacer, Marco Jansen, came in and struck thrice in 10 balls to knock the wind out of the New Zealand sails. Bowling the fourth over, he got the in-form Seifert on the second ball, doing him with extra bounce as he looked to punch but ended up edging the ball to keeper De Kock. In the final over of powerplay, Jansen struck a double blow for just seven runs to seize a decisive advantage. First, Rachin Ravindra's effort to play on the up saw him edge a catch to David Miller at short third. Three balls later, the dangerous looking Allen (31 from 17 balls) skewed a catch to mid off. Later, when New Zealand were rebuilding through a 74-run (44 balls) fifth-wicket partnership between Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell, captain Markram went back to Jansen in the 14th over and the bowler didn't disappoint. Chapman had batted confidently on way to a 26-ball 48 when the pacer deceived him with a clever change of pace. The left-hand batter was too early in the shot and was caught off the leading edge by Ryan Rickelton. The wicket gave Jansen his best T20I figures of 4-0-40-4. Overall, South Africa will be happy with the performance of their pacers on Saturday after the scratchiness against the Afghans. They kept things tight, stuck to their plans. Jansen was the most successful, but what would have pleased South Africa most is Rabada's performance after his tough experience bowling the Super Over against Afghanistan, where his no-balls and wide almost cost his side the game. He backed his impressive opening two-over burst with a fine 18th over in which he gave away just eight runs to finish with fine figures of 0/27 in four overs. Corbin Bosch also bowled at different phases of the innings, including the 20th over, and did a good job, finishing with figures of 4-0-34-1. Brief scores: New Zealand 175/7 (Mark Chapman 48, Daryl Mitchell, Finn Allen; Marco Jansen 4/40). South Africa 178/3 (Aiden Markram 86*). South Africa won by 7 wickets....