‘With my brand of cricket, confidence is extremely important’: Allen ahead of 3rd T20I
Wellington, Oct 27 (IANS) New Zealand opener Finn Allen stressed the importance of confidence, which plays a crucial role in the brand of cricket he plays in T20Is.
Allen is one of the most destructive openers in the format and has a strike rate of 170.36, often setting the stage on fire in the powerplay and possessing all the skills to take the game away from opposition teams.
Speaking ahead of the third T20I against India at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington, Allen spoke on his playing style and how confidence plays a role in it. “I guess the way I play and my brand of cricket, confidence is extremely important. And I think sometimes you’ve got to fake it till you make it. You don’t feel great every time. So I think you do have to have that element of kind of self-confidence and a bit of body language to kind of get you going sometimes,” Allen said in Wellington.
“And cricket’s one of those games where you have more unsuccessful days than successful. You have to be able to pull yourself out of that hole, and again, to me that comes back to if I’m happy off the field, then on the field I’m enjoying it. I’m looking forward to it a lot more and enjoying batting, having fun with it. And I guess just going, whatever happens, happens and kind of works to my favour and it’s how I want to continue playing my cricket,” he added.
Allen was in stellar form in the T20 World Cup 2026, having hit 298 runs in eight innings with a hundred and a half century. His runs came at a strike rate of 200, which was the most for anyone who made more than 50 runs in the tournament.
His unbeaten 33-ball hundred helped the Kiwis make light work of South Africa in the semifinal as Allen reflected on the memories of that epic semifinal. “Almost blacked out during that. What I remember from it was kind of the build-up to the game, and obviously it’s a World Cup semi-final. You’re pretty locked in. So that probably the best bowling attack in the tournament as well. So I guess me and Sei, we really wanted to stamp our mark on that game and get us off to a good start,” Allen said about the semifinal.
The Kiwis ran into a wounded Indian side in the final at the huge Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as the Men in Blue defended their T20 World title. The New Zealand opener also opened up on facing India at the colossal venue.
“Probably didn’t even give myself the chance to like celebrate that (semifinal knock) because the next game was the most important game you’ll probably ever play in a World Cup final. So it’s not something you can ever practice playing in front of 130,000 away fans.
“You know, it’s challenging, and you’re on the biggest stage in the world. It quite literally doesn’t get any bigger than that. I probably don’t think I enjoyed what it was like at the time because you’re thinking so much about the game and how important it is, and you want to do really well and all those external thoughts.
“But just being able to look around and go, wow, it’s pretty cool. Like we’re in a World Cup final. Like just take it all in and enjoy those moments because they’re the things you’ll remember the most in your career,” he added.
Allen also felt that New Zealand should have won that final. “As Kiwis, you know, you always want to be humble and (about) the tall poppy syndrome, but I think we’re actually not that. We genuinely believed we could win that World Cup final. And I think that’s awesome to see. Like, I think we deserve that,” he said.
–IANS
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