Published: Jan 17, 2024, 03:38 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 17, 2024, 03:38 PM (IST)
Finn Allen did not have a terrific summer in 2022–2023 season. He had a dismal 2022 T20 World Cup in the beginning of the season, scoring only 95 runs in five innings. In the five T20Is that remained that summer, he only managed to last more than 20 balls once, and after a brilliant start, his ODI form similarly lost its shine. He failed to receive a ticket for the India ODI World Cup a year later.
However, he has had an incredible summer in the T20s. Let’s travel back in time a few months to the summer that was spent in England. With a strike rate of almost 145 and nine outings in the Hundred, Allen hammered 240 runs to help the Southern Braves get it to the playoffs, second only to Jos Buttler’s 391 total. Before going back for the home summer, he stayed back for the Twenty20 Internationals against England, when he scorched eighty-three off fifty in the third game. His previous six T20 scores, both domestically and internationally, have been 137, 74, 34, 78*, 50, and 38.
The most recent of them was 137 off 62 balls in the third Twenty20 International against Pakistan, which included a record-breaking 16 sixes to make it the greatest score by a New Zealand player in Twenty20 Internationals.
“I think I’m just evaluating risk and times that I want to take a high-risk option,” he said after the Pakistan game. “Maybe prior to this summer was a little bit all over the show and not so much control but I’m trying to have more control now and be a bit more decisive.
“I’m working on just adapting to the scenario better, situations better, and I guess picking my moments to go. I’m basically trying to have a stable base and build off that and expand my game from there.”
In Dunedin, the stable base was on display as he belted all of his sixes in the arc from long-off to square leg, letting his graceful swings and hand-eye coordination do the heavy lifting. Every time Pakistan mishandled their lengths, even when they came with a change of pace, he stood tall to either swing down the ground or put away the short balls with pulls.
Allen has also been eliminating big names along the way. He took down Ben Sears for 20 off just six balls after scoring 26 off 17 in the first Super Smash game, then he struck 50 off 24 against Wellington. Later, in his unbeaten 78 off 46 balls, he punished Ish Sodhi for a run of six, four, and six after the powerplay, hitting him for 22 runs off seven balls. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Haris Rauf stood in Allen’s way as he blasted him for 47 off just 14 with the help of six sixes and two fours.
“I come back to my basics and making sure that before a game I know my basics,” he said. “And going into a game I feel like I’ve ticked everything off. It’s such a fickle game, the tide can turn real quick so knowing that I’ve ticked everything off before a game and can put it down to execution and plans.”
TRENDING NOW
Allen will be hoping that his hot streak lasts this summer, with two more Twenty20 Internationals left in the series and another home series against Australia the following month.
