Finn Allen Nearly Matches Virat Kohlis Rare Dot Ball Record in Semi-final

Finn Allen broke multiple records with his century in the semi-final yesterday. But even after a brilliant knock, he could not match Virat Kohli's record of the fewest dot balls which he created back in 2014. What's more interesting is that both records came against South Africa only.

Ever since the semi-final clash between South Africa and New Zealand ended, Finn Allen has been the talk of the house. He smashed a brilliant century in the must-win game, and helped New Zealand to advance into the finals. In the knock played by Finn Allen, he was able to get four dot balls in the 33 balls he had played.

Just four dot balls in 33 sounds like a perfect innings, but it was still not enough for Finn to match with Virat Kohli. Back in 2014, in the semi-final against South Africa, the King played a match-winning knock which helped India to advance to the finals. Moreover, he had just 3 dot balls in his entire innings.

Virat Kohli’s 72* vs SA: T20 WC 2014

In the T20 World Cup 2014, Virat Kohli was already dominating against each and every team. India topped the group stages with 4 in 4 wins while South Africa stayed 2nd in their group with 3 wins in 4 games. The semi-final fixture was set between them at Mirpur, as South Africa started the game by batting first.

Pic Source: ESPNcricinfo

Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock were dismissed early, putting the team at 44/2. But Faf du Plessis (58 runs off 41) and JP Duminy (45 runs off 40) put the team in a strong position. David Miller gave a finishing touch, as he scored 23 runs off 12 balls, allowing the Proteas to finish at 172 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.

In the chase, Rohit Sharma got out early after an impactful knock of 24 runs. Then came the man for the big stages, Virat Kohli. He received support from Ajinkya Rahane (32 runs off 30) and Yuvraj Singh (18 runs off 17), while he took the centre stage. Suresh Raina also played a fine knock of 21 runs from 10 balls, as Kohli went on to finish the game.

Pic Source: ESPNcricinfo

Playing 44 balls, Virat Kohli was able to score 72 runs with 5 fours and 2 sixes. This eventually helped India to win by 6 wickets and 5 balls remaining. In the 44 balls he played, only three were dot balls. Kohli took 28 singles and 6 doubles, showing that he ran 40 runs in this knock and had 32 runs from the boundaries.

Finn Allen’s 100* vs SA: T20 WC 2026

Almost 12 years later, the opponents were the same but the player which came close to Virat Kohli's record was different. And it was Finn Allen. The clash was set between New Zealand and South Africa at the semi-final stages at Eden Gardens, with New Zealand winning the toss and deciding that they would field first.

New Zealand had a strong start in the game, as the Proteas struggled to score runs against them. Putting them at 77/5, they thought that another low total chase was coming up for them. But Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs changed the game a bit, as Jansen went on to smash a brilliant half-century for the team. South Africa finished their innings at the score of 169/8 in 20 overs.

The chase was a complete dominance by Finn Allen and Tim Seifert. Seifert went on to score 58 runs off 33 balls but Finn Allen remained the star of the game. He completed his half-century in 19 balls and then completed his century in the next 14 balls. In the 33 balls played by Finn Allen, he had faced 4 dot balls, one more than Virat Kohli played back in 2014.

But both of the knocks came against South Africa at the big stage. This time, Finn Allen absolutely dominated the game with his bat, as he scored 10 fours and 8 sixes, smashing 88 runs just from boundaries. New Zealand has now advanced to the finals of the tournament yet again, as this is their 8th ICC final.