Having survived 61 deliveres, 16 of which he replied with a six and five with fours, Finn Allen stood alone atop the New Zealand scoring charts in a single T20 International match. The batter's 137-off-62 balls in Pakistan vs New Zealand, 3rd T20I, helped his team raise a mammoth total, all but extinguishing the visitors' hopes of a series comeback. (More Cricket News)
Allen opened the batting alongside Devon Conway, but while his compatriots fell one after the other, the 24-year-old Auckland native persisted on the crease, returning whatever the opposition bowlers threw at him with aplomb.
Almost an hour after he had entered the pitch, Allen left it with the record for the highest individual total in T20s for New Zealand; by then, the Blackcaps had crossed the 200-run mark and were heading towards a mammoth score. Allen also equalled the record of most sixes in a single T20 inning: 16.
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Allen has enjoyed a prolific series at home against Pakistan, boosting his chances of a starting spot at this summer's ICC T20 Cricket World Cup 2024. The batter scored 34 off 15 in the first match between the pair, while he topped the New Zealand scoring charts in the second with 74 in 41 delivered. New Zealand won both games, soaring into a 2-0 series lead.
The Blackcaps will be buoyed by their performances of late, especially after a series draw with Bangladesh earlier in the year, and with the spectre of the World Cup looming large in the foreground. They will face Afghanistan, West Indies, Papua New Guinea, and Uganda in the event's group stage, aiming to progress to the Super Six round.
