Two weeks ago, Finn Allen wasn’t even in KKR’s playing XI. On Friday night in Delhi, he hit ten sixes and a maiden IPL century off 47 balls — the innings that powered KKR’s fourth straight win and a comeback from the dead in IPL 2026.
The number that frames everything: KKR opened IPL 2026 with five straight losses — the first time in the franchise’s 19-year history they’d started a season 0-5. By late April, the defending champions couldn’t buy a win. Allen’s strike rate was collapsing. Aakash Chopra wrote that neither Allen nor Rahane could play spin. Then KKR dropped him.
Allen later called the benching a “mental refresh.” Three matches into KKR’s recovery, Ajinkya Rahane was the only voice publicly defending him while pundits demanded he be cut for good. The morning of this game, Chopra wrote that both Allen and Tim Seifert should sit out.
What Actually Happened at Arun Jaitley
KKR won the toss, bowled, and let their spinners do what they’ve been doing since Rinku Singh broke the losing streak at Eden Gardens. Sunil Narine finished the night as the most successful spinner against Delhi Capitals in IPL history. DC limped to 142/8 — a score that almost looked respectable for a franchise that had been all out for 75 two days earlier. Pathum Nissanka’s 50 and Ashutosh Sharma’s 39 were the only resistance.
Then Allen walked out and detonated. 100 not out off 47. Ten sixes. The chase finished in 14.2 overs with 34 balls to spare — a number more humiliating than the eight-wicket margin already suggested.
Cameron Green, batting at the other end, deliberately farmed strike to get Allen to the milestone. “I’d be the most hated player in Kolkata,” he said afterward, “if I’d denied him.”
KKR’s Comeback: Four Straight Wins and Playoff Math That Just Flipped
Four consecutive wins. KKR are now above DC on the table — Axar Patel was already talking about “next year” in the post-match. The same Allen who couldn’t get into the side is now the first New Zealand batter to hit three T20 centuries in a calendar year. From 0-5 to playoff contenders, KKR’s IPL 2026 season has officially been resurrected.
Rahane’s “He was struggling, but…” reads differently now. So does the playoff math.