In March, Finn Allen was on top of the world. He scored a century off 33 deliveries against South Africa in the T20 World Cup semifinal at the Eden Gardens, the fastest ton in the tournament’s history, to take New Zealand to the final. They ended as runners-up but Allen was the talk of the event and had an Indian Premier League season with the Kolkata Knight Riders to look forward to at the end of the month. His start with the franchise was decent; the Kiwi opener slammed 37 (17) and 28 (7) in the first two matches against Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad. But he returned scores of 6(7), 9(8) and 1(3) in the next 3 matches, ultimately leading to his replacement by Kiwi opening partner Tim Seifert. He returned to the team after 3 matches and hasn’t looked back since. Since his comeback, the burly Black Caps player has notched up scores of 29 (13), 100*(47) and 18 (8). On Saturday, he added to that collection of noteworthy knocks with a blistering 93 off just 45 against Gujarat Titans at Eden, an innings studded with 10 sixes and 4 fours that kept KKR alive in the playoffs’ race. ALSO READ | Allen, Narine star as KKR beat GT to stay alive in IPL 2026 After the match, he opened up about what led to his resurgence in the Purple and gold colours after sitting out a few matches. “To be honest, at the start of the tournament, I was putting far too much pressure on myself to perform and I was probably a shell of a human for a bit there and it was all self-inflicted. So I think if you go out of the side, you have time to relax and take a breath and I guess look at things from a different perspective. I love playing cricket, I love batting and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I should have at the time because I was putting too much pressure on myself. So having those few games off, really did me a good thing. And yeah, it’s a great learning for sure,” he said in the press conference. “If the ball’s there, I will always try to hit for a four or a six. Somedays it comes off, somedays it doesn’t. That’s the nature of T20 cricket. But I think what I really worked on was if I am relaxed and I am enjoying myself and I watch the ball harder, I am in a better position and I am in a better cricketer for it. So I think the main thing was to keep enjoying what I was doing, keep learning and pressure is something that I put on myself. We are very blessed to be doing what we do so the pressure was all me,” he added.
‘Was probably shell of human for bit’: Finn Allen on KKR comeback after tough start
