Finn Allen of the Kolkata Knight Riders lit up Eden Gardens like a fireworks show, smashing 93 off just 35 balls - with 10 sixes and four boundaries - to power his side to a mammoth 247-2 and a 29-run win over the Gujarat Titans in their must-win IPL clash in Kolkata.
The Kiwi opener took the Titans' vaunted attack apart after a quiet start, launching Kagiso Rabada for back-to-back sixes and cashing in on a dropped catch to set a target that always looked beyond Gujurat, even on a belter, after being sent in to bat first.
Clean hitting at a strike rate of 265.7 🤯
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 16, 2026
Finn Allen leaves us all awestruck with his 93 (35) 👏💜
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/m8jevRTt29#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #KKRvGT pic.twitter.com/gGNeJpXZF3
Allen's blitz gave KKR a fighting chance in the playoff race, and they defended it with guts and guile, restricting the Titans to 218-four.
The context was simple for both sides: If KKR lost they were basically done, while a win for Gujarat would have seen the Titans become the first side into the playoffs.
Instead, Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (82 not out, 4x4, 7x6) and Cameron Green (52 not out, 3x4, 4x6) turned it into a six-fest - KKR smashing 22 maximums to GT's 12.
Sunil Narine was the pick of the bowlers for KKR with 2-29, including the key scalp of Shubman Gill for 85, who tried valiantly to keep his side in the mix, smashing five boundaries and seven sixes from 49 deliveries while the Titans' fielding leaked like a sieve dropping four catches when they could ill-afford to.
In a league of his own 🌟
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 16, 2026
Sunil Narine is the Player of the Match for his 2/29 in a high-scoring game 🏅
Glimpses of his spell: https://t.co/gm1s3efGoL#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #KKRvGT pic.twitter.com/0duQLFBfwU
South Africa's Rabada, brought in for some serious pace, went wicketless for 40 runs in four overs - expensive stuff on a pitch that offered him nothing as the home batters teed off.
KKR stay alive by the skin of their teeth, while GT's five-game winning streak is snapped in brutal fashion.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi
Impact Bench: Arora, Ramandeep, Tejasvi, Powell, Pathirana
GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Jason Holder, Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj
Impact Bench: Tewatia, Phillips, Rawat, Prasidh, Kushagra