New Zealand’s explosive batter Finn Allen delivered a record-shattering performance in the opening match of Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025, proving his T20 prowess on the global stage. Representing San Francisco Unicorns, Allen hammered a stunning 151 off just 51 balls against Washington Freedom at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday.
His extraordinary innings, which featured 5 fours and 19 sixes, came at a phenomenal strike rate of 296.07 and stunned cricket fans and bowlers alike. With this fiery knock, Allen set the record for the fastest 150 in T20 cricket, reaching the milestone in just 49 balls. He also reached his century in 34 balls, the quickest T20 hundred ever by a New Zealand batter and the fastest in MLC history.
Surpasses Chris Gayle and Chauhan’s Six-Hitting Feat
Allen didn’t stop there. By clearing the boundary 19 times, he broke the previous record for most sixes in a men’s T20 innings, which was held jointly by Chris Gayle and Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan with 18 sixes each.
Speaking after his incredible performance, Allen said:
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝑳𝑪 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝑮𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕, 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕.”
Unsold in IPL, Dominates MLC
What makes Allen’s performance even more remarkable is that he went unsold at the IPL 2025 auction just six months ago. Despite setting a base price of Rs 2 crore, no franchise placed a bid for him.
In contrast, the same auction saw Rishabh Pant become the most expensive player in IPL history, bought by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 27 crore. Shreyas Iyer followed with a Rs 26.75 crore deal from Punjab Kings, while Venkatesh Iyer was retained by KKR for Rs 23.75 crore.
Allen’s thunderous return in MLC 2025 now raises questions for IPL franchises that overlooked him.
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