Finn Allen hammers highest score by New Zealand batter in Men’s T20Is; equals record for most sixes in an innings

Hard-hitting New Zealand opener Finn Allen registered the highest score by a Kiwi batter in Men’s T20I cricket in the third match of the series against Pakistan at the University Oval in Dunedin on Wednesday, January 17. After Pakistan won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first, opener Allen clobbered 137 in only 62 balls.

With his knock, the 24-year-old surpassed former captain Brendon McCullum to move to the top of the list among batters with the highest individual score in a Men’s T20I for New Zealand. McCullum had smashed 123 off 72 against Bangladesh in Pallekele back in 2012.

During his whirlwind innings, Allen also struck 16 sixes apart from five fours. With this, he equaled Afghanistan cricketer Hazratullah Zazai's record for most sixes by a batter in a T20I. Zazai had smashed 16 maximums in a T20I against Ireland in February 2019.

Courtesy of Allan’s spectacular knock, New Zealand ended up posting an impressive total of 224/7 in the third T20I against Pakistan. The Kiwi opener dominated the innings until he was bowled by Zaman Khan in the 18th over. New Zealand’s next-highest score in the innings was 31 by Tim Seifert.

For Pakistan, Haris Rauf proved very expensive, conceding 60 runs in four overs. Skipper Shaheen Afridi registered figures of 1/43 in his four overs.

Chasing a big total of 225, Pakistan were held to 179/7 in their 20 overs. Former captain Babar Azam top-scored with 58 off 37 balls, while Mohammad Nawaz contributed 28 from 15, but the rest of the batting line-up struggled. With the 45-run triumph, New Zealand clinched the five-match series with two games to go.

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Finn Allen is currently the leading run-getter in the series

After three matches, Kiwi opener Allen is on top of the list among leading run-getters in the T20I series. In three innings, he has smashed 245 runs at an average of 81.67 and a strike rate of 207.63.

The right-handed batter had smacked 34 off 15 in the first T20I against Pakistan in Auckland and followed it up with 74 off 41 in the second match in Hamilton.

Overall, the explosive batter has scored 1,025 runs in 38 T20Is at an average of 26.97 and a strike rate of 165.06 with two hundreds and four fifties.