When Finn Allen was asked this March to name the first thing he would do if he woke up as his RCB team-mate Virat Kohli the answer was revealing. “I would probably walk into the streets to see how it feels to have everyone chase after you.”
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That ethereal fandom is yet to hit of course but at the start of this T20 world cup, Allen experienced what Kohli has felt a few times during his international career.
In the world cup opener on October 22nd, the SCG cauldron was simmering as the young New Zealander faced up to Mitchell Starc, one of the most lethal bowlers of the modern era. In the background, a 45000-strong home crowd were hollering for Starc. Boom. The 23-year-old Kiwi wallops one over Starc’s head.
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The memories of the 2015 final of Brendon Mccullum losing his stumps, charging down the wicket to Starc at the MCG might be still fresh in the minds of Kiwis supporters. The young Finn Allen couldn’t care less about the history. It seemed he wanted to create his own. He just went at the full-pitched delivery not worrying about the bowler and most importantly the occasion and history.
That boundary was just the beginning. He smashed a world-class attack, silencing the home crowd in a blink as he looted 42 off 16 with five 4’s and three 6’s.
Allen’s counterattack set the tone for the historic New Zealand triumph over Australia by a gigantic margin of 87 runs. Australia never quite recovered from that sucker punch even as New Zealand marched on to the semifinal.
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However, the recognition for his fearless attitude he got after the knock against Australia wasn’t the beginning; he has been a star in making for a while.
In a game against Pakistan in the tri-series, ahead of the world cup, Allen had smashed six sixes, three of them against the pacer Shahnawaz Dahani and once deposited Shadab Khan over long-on.
“He can play all around the wicket and has great hands. He’s quite a wristy player and is certainly one to watch,” said his Under-19 batting Peter Fulton to Espncricinfo in 2021. Finn Allen has played 22 T20Is in his career scoring 560 runs at a strike rate of 165.
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“For me [the key] is the simplicity of what I’m trying to do when I’m out there,” Allen had once said. “Keeping my head as clear I can and literally just focusing on watching the ball and trying to hit it as hard as I can.”
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Under-19 journey
Finn Allen was the skipper of the 2018 under-19 World Cup team held in New Zealand. He starred with a match-winning 115 of 100 balls against West Indies, only the seventh New Zealand player ever to score a 100 in the competition’s history.
He scored 338 runs at an average of 67 at a strike rate of 119 he was the fourth-highest run-getter in the tournament and was hailed as an upcoming superstar in world games alongside the likes of India’s Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw.
Rachan Ravindra, his teammate during the World Cup campaign speaking to ICC said “Finn is an extremely confident player who knows so much about his game and can dominate a bowler”.
When asked about his love for the game Finn Allen said his interest stemmed from his time with his family as a kid. “All I remember going to the beach with my old man and brother playing catches with tennis balls diving around all that sort of thing”.
Franchise career
In franchise cricket, Finn Allen has created a reputation for himself of being one of the most aggressive openers going around the circuit, playing for Yorkshire in the T20 Vitality Blast and with Lancashire earlier, where he blasted 399 runs at a 159.60 strike rate. With Birmingham Phoenix, in the opening season of the hundred, he had a strike rate of 150.
“We have brought in Finn Allen who is an explosive batsman and a very good young player. Said Darren Gough, then Yorkshire’s interim managing director of cricket.
In 2021, Allen was signed up by RCB but was benched through the campaign.
Wellington Firebirds -The game changer
Finn Allen started his domestic career in Auckland in New Zealand but in 2020 he switched to playing for Wellington. It was here where things turned massively for Finn Allen. The player has gone from a decent player to a player who could replace Martin Guptill who played 122 T20Is for New Zealand.
His numbers were getting unreal in the Super Smash T20 league: 792 runs at an average of 39.60 at a strike rate of a mere 196. That’s right he was almost striking two runs a ball nearly averaging 40 in T20s.
In the 2020-21 season, Finn Allen scored 512 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 194. He along with the other Kiwis opener Devon Conway helped the team to win the Super Smash trophy in the 2020-21 season. In the 2021-2022 season, in the absence of Conway who was on national duty, though the average came down to 25, his strike rate remained in the high 190s.
As they say, two hands are needed for clapping. The blackcaps captain Kane Williamson decided to take the Wellington pairing as a whole. Which yielded 56 runs in just four overs in the opening super 12 fixture at SCG. The Aussies were shell-shocked and could never recover.
Finn Allen and Devon Conway with 56 runs partnership for the opening wicket in just four overs. (SOURCE: ICC).
Nonetheless, Finn Allen after his destructive opening game went off the boil a bit in the next few games. New Zealand would be hoping that he explodes in the semis against Pakistan at Sydney, where it all began for Finn Allen.
