New Zealand opener Finn Allen wreaked havoc in the opening game of the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 season as he smashed the record for most sixes in a T20 innings for the San Francisco Unicorns against the Washington Freedom at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday.
Allen clobbered his record 19th maximum to bring up his 150 in only 49 balls. Allen’s maximum to reach the milestone broke the previous best of and Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan of 18 sixes each to set the new world record for sixes in a men’s T20 innings.
Batting first at the tournament’s newest venue after losing the toss, Allen butchered the ball from the outset, waltzing to 40 off 14 deliveries inside the Powerplay with five sixes. The onslaught only got bigger from the 26-year-old who went past 50 in 20 deliveries. Twice the hard-hitting Kiwi opener smacked three sixes in an over as he sped to his fourth T20 century in only 34 deliveries, the fastest MLC century and the quickest T20 hundred by a New Zealand batter.
Allen doubled the damage with five more sixes as he hit the record 19th six in the 17th over, before holing out in the following over while swinging for his 20th six. In the repeat of last year’s final, runner-ups Unicorns finished with 269 for five on the board against the reigning champs, making the highest-ever men’s T20 total in the United States.
Allen has aggregated over 4,100 T20 runs in 151 career innings, with his 173.27 batting strike rate ranking the best of all batters who have aggregated at least 1,000 runs. In January 2024, Allen broke ’s New Zealand T20I record by scoring 137 runs off just 62 balls against Pakistan. This innings also saw him hit 16 sixes, equalling Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai for the most sixes scored by a single player in a T20I innings. Allen’s 163.27 T20I strike rate is also the best among all New Zealand batters.
Allen was signed up by in the four years ago as a replacement player before signing up at the IPL 2022 auction. He, however, did not receive game time with the IPL 2025 champions at the time. Listed at a base price of INR 2 crore at the IPL Mega Auction last year, Allen found no bidders at the table.
19 sixes – Finn Allen (San Franciso Unicorns vs Washington Freedom), 2025
18 sixes- Chris Gayle (Rangpur Riders vs Dynamites), 2017
18 sixes – Sahil Chauhan (Estonia vs Cyprus), 2024
