Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], May 13 (ANI): As defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) aim to rebuild momentum after a thrilling win over Mumbai Indians (MI), they have their work cut out against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Finn Allen, who smashed a sensational 47-ball ton against Delhi Capitals (DC).

With Allen regaining form after a brief slump, RCB will need their bowling line-up, particularly the experienced veterans Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Krunal Pandya, to be on point with their accuracy, pace, flight, swing, etc., making sure that Allen's stay at the crease is not beyond 20 balls.

Allen is a destructive opener who can do massive damage in the power play. The hard-hitting Kiwi can unleash damage within his first 20 balls as very few players do. But after playing those 20 balls, he takes his game up plenty of notches.

As per a stat from Cricbuzz, the match against DC was the first instance of Allen batting outside powerplay in the IPL and his first instance of facing 20 or more balls this season. Since 2024, Allen has been striking at 218.33 after the 20th ball mark, the highest for any player in T20 cricket. While Allen is very much capable of bringing the same strike rate within his first 20 balls as well, RCB will have to make sure his stay is as short as possible.

This season, Allen has made 210 runs in seven innings at an average of 35.00 and a strike rate of 205.88, including a century. In 102 balls faced so far, out of which 47 came against DC, he has hit 21 fours and 16 sixes. His balls per boundary (including both four and six) is 2.6, and his balls per six ratio sits at 6.3.

Allen is the fourth-highest run-getter this season, with 905 runs in 24 matches and 23 innings at an average of 45.25 and a strike rate of 195.24, including three centuries and fifties each. His most valuable knock this year has been a record-breaking 33-ball ton against South Africa in the T20 World Cup semifinal, the fastest in the history of men's T20 World Cups and 50-over World Cups combined.

Squads: Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Rasikh Salam Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Philip Salt, Nuwan Thushara, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal, Vicky Ostwal, Swapnil Singh. (ANI)