T20 World Cup: New Zealand semi-final hero Allen hails Seifert impact after 33-ball century
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New Zealand's Finn Allen believes opening partner Tim Seifert made it easy for him to score the fastest century in T20 World Cup history as they thrashed South Africa by nine wickets to reach the final.
The Black Caps easily chased down a target of 170 with 43 balls to spare on Wednesday, thanks to Allen's 33-ball unbeaten 100 and Seifert's 58 off 33, beating South Africa at the men's T20 World Cup for the first time.
Allen registered the fastest 100 in tournament history, as well as the joint-fastest century in men’s T20Is by a batter from a full-member side (also Sikandar Raza vs Gambia in October 2024).
Allen and Seifert also scored a combined 84 runs in the powerplay, the most in the first six overs of an innings in a men's T20 World Cup match.
Including their 117-run stand against the Proteas, Allen and Seifert have put 463 runs on the board together in this year's tournament.
That is the most by any pair in a single edition of the competition – surpassing a previous high of 446 by Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the 2024 edition.
"We wanted to try and put them on the back foot early," said Allen after the win.
"When Tim is going like that, it makes it easy for me... I can just watch and hit it when it's in my area, and we got off to an absolute flier.
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"It's easy in a semi-final to stay up for the fight – it was a huge game for us and we enjoyed it out there together.
"You take the positives from this game, celebrate that little moment of success, and then we've got a final to win on Sunday. We look forward to that."
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner added: "It was special to watch [Allen and Seifert].
"We were very happy with a target of 170 going into our innings, but you never know.
"They went out there, played their game and took it on, which was cool to see. And then Finn carried on... 33 balls for a ton is not too bad!"
New Zealand will face either India or England in the showpiece match, after they face off in Mumbai on Thursday.
