South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj was thrilled to see the "hunger" in his side as they earned a 19-run victory over New Zealand to level their T20I series at 2-2.

After winning the first match of the series, South Africa have since fallen to heavy defeats, but they fought back to ensure it goes down to the final game on Wednesday.

Having opted to bat, South Africa bounced back from the early wicket of Wiaan Mulder (0), with Connor Esterhuizen leading the charge with 57, while Tony de Zorzi (23) and Rubin Hermann (28 not out) chipped in with strong totals.

They reached 164-5 by the end of the 20 overs, and New Zealand made a strong start, with Tim Robinson's 32 and Dane Cleaver's 26, but the Proteas soon found their rhythm.

Gerard Coetzee (3-31) put in a big performance, with Prenelan Subrayen (2-13) also starring with the ball as New Zealand were skittled out for 145 with seven balls remaining.

And Maharaj, who finished with figures of 2-22, was pleased with the attitude his side showed to get the win.

"There was a lot of good energy and a little bit of hunger within the group, and we showed that," he said.

MATCH RESULT

An extraordinary game of cricket comes to an end in Wellington as #TheProteas secure a thrilling 19-run victory! 

Incredible scenes as the five-match T20I series is level at 2-2, with the decider set for March 25th.

: @PhotosportNZ #Unbreakable pic.twitter.com/dXzY97PdIw

— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) March 22, 2026

"It is a young team that is finding its way in international cricket, but to see the response after three games is superb. I think the way the debutant [Subrayen] took two wickets was fantastic.

"There were dropped catches, but there was no panic. There were no pre-planned ideas coming in, and the guys just adapted."

New Zealand were without Tom Latham as they sought to find a rare bilateral series win over South Africa.

And stand-in captain James Neesham was frank when assessing what had let them down in the chase.

"165 was about par or maybe slightly below par," he said. "It was a good deck without being too good for batting.

"We took some average options with the bat and now need to have some honest conversations about where things went wrong."