Records Finn Allen Broke in the T20 World Cup Semi-Final
New Zealand opener Finn Allen delivered a record-breaking performance in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026. The explosive opening batter smashed 100 not out off just 33 balls as New Zealand defeated South Africa by 9 wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Allen faced 33 balls and sent 18 deliveries to or over the boundary. His innings included 10 fours and 8 sixes. The dominant knock powered New Zealand into the T20 World Cup 2026 final.
Finn Allen Scored Fastest T20 World Cup Century
Finn Allen raced to his fifty in 19 balls and then reached his century in 33 balls. In doing so, he broke Chris Gayle’s decade old T20 World Cup record.
Gayle had previously scored a 47-ball hundred against England in 2016.
Allen and Gayle remain the only two batters to score T20 World Cup centuries in under 50 balls. A total of 17 centuries have been scored in T20 World Cup history, but no other batter has reached a hundred that quickly.
Fastest T20 World Cup Hundreds (Balls Faced)
- 33 balls – Finn Allen vs South Africa, 2026
- 47 balls – Chris Gayle vs England, 2016
- 50 balls – Chris Gayle vs South Africa, 2007
- 50 balls – Harry Brook vs Pakistan, 2026
- 51 balls – Brendon McCullum vs Bangladesh, 2012
Finn Allen’s century was also historic for another reason.
It became the first-ever century in a T20 World Cup knockout match. It is also the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup knockout game.
The previous highest score belonged to Tilakaratne Dilshan, who scored 96 not out against West Indies in the 2009 T20 World Cup semifinal.
Interestingly, Allen’s century came at Eden Gardens, the same venue where he will play in IPL 2026 for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Finn Allen’s Strike Rate and Six-Hitting
Finn Allen’s innings included just 4 dot balls. There have been 76 individual innings of at least 30 balls in T20 World Cup semifinals or finals. Among them, only Virat Kohli’s 72 off 44 balls against South Africa in the 2014 semifinal had fewer dot balls, with 3.
Allen’s dominance also extends across the tournament. He has a batting strike rate of 203.52 in 7 innings, the highest in the T20 World Cup 2026.
With 289 runs at an average of 57.80, Allen is the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament. Only Sahibzada Farhan (383 runs) and Brian Bennett (292 runs) are ahead of him.
Finn Allen has smashed 20 sixes in the tournament so far. That is the highest number of sixes in this edition with one match still to be played. No player has ever hit more sixes than Allen in a single T20 World Cup edition.
Among the 6 centuries scored in the 2026 T20 World Cup, no batter hit more sixes in a single hundred than Allen, who struck 8 sixes during his record innings.
Finn Allen Among Fastest T20I Centurions
This was Allen’s third T20I hundred, the joint-highest for New Zealand alongside Colin Munro. Allen is also the third batter to score a T20 World Cup hundred for NZ after Brendon McCullum and Glenn Philips.
Among full-member nations, Finn Allen became the joint-fastest T20I centurion. He shares the record with Sikandar Raza, with both reaching hundreds in 33 balls.
Across all T20 Internationals, only two players have scored faster centuries:
- Sahil Chauhan (Estonia) – 27 balls
- Muhammad Fahad (Turkey) – 29 balls
Allen Takes New Zealand Into T20 World Cup Final
Finn Allen’s record-breaking century took New Zealand into their first Men’s T20 World Cup final since 2021, where they lost to Australia.
The Black Caps will now chase their maiden T20 World Cup title when the final takes place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8.
New Zealand now await the winner of the second semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to see whether they face India or England in the final. Make your predictions on duelbits.io.
England defeated New Zealand by 4 wickets during the Super Eights stage, while the Black Caps have not faced India yet in the 2026 edition.