There were just a lot of calls to drop Finn Allen, and get fellow New Zealander Rachin Ravindra in his place. But then Ajinkya Rahane, KKR skipper, stuck with the explosive opener for some reason; prior to the DC match on Friday, he had just scored 110 runs in 6 matches, at an average of 28. But then the Kiwi batter flipped the script. Not only he took his side to their fourth consecutive win in IPL 2026, but also slammed the team’s fastest-ever ton — in 47 deliveries only, slamming 10 sixes and 5 fours.
Finn Allen Gets Back to Form in Style
Chasing a modest 143, it wasn’t like Allen was in this punishing mood from the very start. In fact, in the powerplay he was struggling to get going, scoring 20 from 17 — but Vipraj Nigam’s seventh over just changed the way he batted, and will so, in the remaining matches for Kolkata. A six and a four in his over is all it took for Allen to bounce back to form.
What helped was, there was no pressure of the increasing required rate; In the very next over he targeted Kuldeep Yadav for a six and a four again, making his intentions clear. Allen took particular liking to Vipraj, and struck him for three consecutive sixes in the 13th over. Then, the match was already over, it was just about him, getting to his ton.
Hundreds for KKR in IPL
- 158*(73) – Brendon McCullum vs RCB, Bengaluru 2008
- 104(51) – Venkatesh Iyer vs MI, Wankhede 2023
- 109(56) – Sunil Narine vs RR, Kolkata 2024
- 100*(47) – Finn Allen vs DC, Delhi 2026
KKR Can Still Qualify for Playoffs
From the stats point-of-view, Allen is not the quickest KKR batter to an IPL ton — surpassing the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, and Sunil Narine — 49 deliveries each. Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum had reached his feat in IPL’s first-ever match, in 53 deliveries, vs RCB.
There was a dropped chance in the eight over, when he was batting in his 40s, but… Allen rocked back to hit Kuldeep over long on, Stubbs came charging in, dived forward, but could not complete the catch cleanly. Perhaps the result could have been different. Nonetheless, Rahane’s team now has nine points to their name, and can still qualify for the playoffs, mathematically.
They need to win their remaining 4 to get to 17 points. Tall task, but they have shown, that with momentum on their side, they can pull off a miracle. They play RCB in Raipur, followed by GT and MI at home, and lastly, DC again at the Eden Gardens on May 24.
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