New Zealand opener Finn Allen smashed 16 sixes, equalling the world record for most sixes in a T20I innings, as he scored a stunning 137 off 62 balls against Pakistan in the third match of the five-game series at Dunedin on Wednesday. His explosive knock helped New Zealand post 224 for 7 and seal the series with a 45-run victory.
Allen, who had scored 71 and 41 in the previous two games, continued his rich vein of form and took the Pakistan bowlers to the cleaners. He hit sixes all around the ground, with two of them travelling over 100 metres. He was particularly harsh on Haris Rauf, whom he hit for six sixes in 14 balls. Rauf ended up conceding 60 runs in his four overs, the most expensive spell of his T20 career.
Allen reached his maiden T20I hundred in the 13th over with a six off Usman Qadir. He surpassed Brendon McCullum’s 123 as the highest score by a New Zealander in T20Is and also became the third-fastest to complete 1000 runs in the format, in just 611 balls. He was eventually dismissed in the 18th over by Mohammad Nawaz, falling just short of Hazratullah Zazai’s 162, the highest individual score in T20Is.
The other New Zealand batters could not match Allen’s pace and scored only 74 runs off 58 balls. Tim Seifert made 18, Glenn Phillips 12 and Daryl Mitchell 17. Pakistan’s spinners Nawaz and Qadir were the most economical, taking two wickets each and conceding less than eight runs per over.
Pakistan’s chase never got going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Only captain Babar Azam showed some resistance with his third consecutive fifty of the series. He scored 58 off 44 balls with six fours and a six and became the joint-highest scorer of fifties against a team in men’s T20Is, with eight half-centuries against New Zealand. He also has the second-highest aggregate of runs against an opponent, with 723 runs in 18 innings.
However, Babar did not get much support from the other end as Pakistan slipped to 179 for 7 in 20 overs. Scott Kuggeleijn, Mitchell Santner and Todd Astle took two wickets each for New Zealand, who extended their unbeaten run at the University Oval in Dunedin to 21 matches across formats. New Zealand have now won the series 3-0 with two games to spare. The fourth T20I will be played at Hamilton on Friday.
