Finn Allen smashed the fastest T20I century in a match between two full member sides during New Zealand's dominating win over South Africa in the 2026 T20 World Cup final.
Allen spearheaded New Zealand's extraordinary chase at Eden Gardens, where the brutalised South Africa taking just fewer than 13 overs to reach their 170-run target. South Africa went into the match unbeaten, including registering a win over New Zealand in the group stage of the competition. However, their hopes of qualifying for this weekend's final quickly unravelled in the face of a huge opening stand from Allen and Tim Seifert.
The pair hit 84 runs between them in the power play, in which Corbin Bosch was hit for five consecutive boundaries by Allen in the sixth over of the innings. Seifert reached his half-century first, taking 28 balls to reach the milestone with a four off Lungi Ngidi to get there. Allen joined him in the following over, recording a 19-ball 50 – the joint fastest so far at the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Seifert fell off the first ball of the 10th over, but with New Zealand already needing less than a run a ball, the damage was mostly done. That didn't stop Allen from continuing to motor and, going into the 13th over of the chase with New Zealand needing 21 runs to win, he went up another gear. He hit two fours off the first two balls before hitting back-to-back sixes off the next two. That brought the scores level with Allen four runs short of 100. He got both jobs done on the next ball by flaying a four over mid-off off Marco Jansen, winning the match and completing an extraordinary hundred in one hit.
1st Semi-Final, South Africa vs New Zealand
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Full list: Finn Allen hits all-time fastest T20I hundred against full member
Allen's century came off just 33 balls – the joint third-fastest T20I century off all time. It was also the joint-fastest century by a full member player, but the fastest scored against a full-member side.
In addition, it was also the fastest hundred scored in a men's T20 World Cup.
| Player | No. balls | Match | Venue | Year |
| Sahil Chauhan | 27 | Estonia v Cyprus | Episkopi | 2024 |
| Muhammad Fahad | 29 | Turkey v Bulgaria | Sofia | 2025 |
| Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton | 33 | Namibia v Nepal | Kirtipur | 2024 |
| Sikandar Raza | 33 | Zimbabwe v Gambia | Nairobi | 2024 |
| Finn Allen | 33 | New Zealand v South Africa | Kolkata | 2026 |
| Kushal Malla | 34 | Nepal v Mongolia | Hangzhou | 2023 |
| David Miller | 35 | South Africa v Bangladesh | Potchesfstroom | 2017 |
| Rohit Sharma | 35 | India v Sri Lanka | Indore | 2017 |
| Sudesh Wickramasekara | 36 | Czech Republic v Turkey | Ilov County | 2019 |
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