Grant Elliott says he felt a huge release of emotion after hitting the six that took New Zealand past South Africa and into the Cricket World Cup final.
Elliott's decisive blow against the country of his birth gave the Black Caps a four-wicket win with one ball remaining on Tuesday in Auckland.
"That's the moment you feel a release of emotion," he said.
"It was a great feeling for the team. You look at the crowd and you savour that moment and realise you've reached the final."
Set a challenging target of 298 in a semi-final reduced by rain to 43 overs a side, the Black Caps finished on 6-299, with Elliott unbeaten on 84.
He said he felt the pressure of the situation, with five needed from the last two balls for victory.
But he was also conscious a tie would have been enough to make the final because New Zealand finished higher than South Africa in the pool stage.
"I knew it was up to me," the 36-year-old said.
"I had two balls to take us home.
"The chase, we probably left it a bit late, to be honest. It was stressful towards the end there."
The delivery that Elliott lofted over the long-on boundary came from Dale Steyn and, afterwards, he went over to comfort the paceman.
"You have to feel compassion," he said.
"I felt quite sorry for him and quite sorry for a lot of the South African guys.
"It could have been us. It could have been me sitting there, having missed the last two balls. I would have been pretty gutted as well."
New Zealand have reached the final for the first time after seven semi-final appearances.
They will meet defending champions India or four-time winners Australia on Sunday in Melbourne.
But, for South Africa, defeat at Eden Park meant another stumble at the penultimate hurdle and skipper AB de Villiers admitted he had never felt worse on a cricket field than at the end.
He believed his players had given their all, but hadn't taken their chances, including the run-out he missed when he lost the ball.
"It's difficult to say what kind of emotions I'm feeling," he said.
"It's obviously painful. We so badly wanted to take the trophy back home."
De Villiers said the fact he had taken part in one of the great one-dayers was no consolation.
"Credit to New Zealand - they played a wonderful game of cricket," he said.
"They held their nerve at the end."
The Black Caps made a blazing start to their chase via skipper Brendon McCullum with a quickfire 59 from 26 balls.
But when Corey Anderson joined Elliott in the middle, New Zealand were precariously placed at 4-149.
The pair put on a century partnership to keep the Black Caps in with shot before Anderson fell for 58.
The Duckworth-Lewis method came into play after South Africa's innings was disrupted by a two-hour rain delay.
When the players came back out, the Proteas smashed 65 runs from their remaining five overs to end on 5-281.
It was big-hitting David Miller who pumped the accelerator in the closing stages.
Miller smacked 49 from 18 balls, before being caught behind going for another big hit.
De Villiers ended unbeaten on 65, while Faf du Plessis top-scored for the Proteas with 82.
Earlier, South Africa lost openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock cheaply after winning the toss.
Seamer Trent Boult, the tournament's top wicket-taker, claimed both scalps to take his tally to 21.
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