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Finn Allen is starting to have a major impact on IPL 2026. If the 100 not out in 47 balls in a chase of just 143 against Delhi Capitals (DC) was the primer, the 93 in 35 balls on Saturday against Gujarat Titans (GT) was the real deal, coming as it did against the most celebrated bowling side in the competition. It's a nice change for Allen and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after their big overseas opener had started with a series of poor or middling scores, which Allen put down to "putting far too much pressure on myself to perform".

"I was probably a shell of a human for a bit there. And it was all self-inflicted," Allen said at the press conference after KKR beat GT by 29 runs to stay alive in the competition. He was referring to his 81 runs in five innings in April, which led to him being dropped from the XI and KKR being forced to ring in plan B. In May, Allen had scores of 29, 100 not out, 18, and 93, more in keeping with his reputation, enhanced after the 100 not out in 33 balls in the T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa in March this year, also at Eden Gardens, his home ground for the IPL.

"I think, you know, when you go out of the side, you have time to relax and take a breath and, I guess, look at things from a different perspective. I love playing cricket. I love batting. And I probably wasn't enjoying it as much as I should have at the time, because I was putting so much pressure on myself. So yeah, look, having those few games off really did me a good thing. And yeah, it's a great learning experience for sure."

The GT bowling - tall fast bowlers hitting the short-of-a-length area - worked in Allen's favour, Ambati Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "He likes pace, and he likes hitting to the on side, and that's exactly where they have delivered those short-of-length deliveries [to Allen]," Rayudu said. "When the ball just swung a little bit early on, he struggled just a bit for a tiny period [16 off nine balls after three overs]. But, despite that, it was pretty clinical. He was picking the length up beautifully, and even [Kagiso] Rabada, he picked up a short-of-length ball, which is Rabada's strength [for six over midwicket in the fourth over]. Once you put away the ball for a six against somebody's strength, the bowler is always struggling. He met fire with fire and succeeded. Quite an exceptional innings." Allen explained that his plan of action was to first look for a four or a six - he has hit ten sixes in either of his big innings so far - and then settle for a single if the big shot didn't happen.

"Look, I think it depends on the wicket, right? Today, it was definitely tricky at the start. We knew that was going to be the case. Two of the best opening bowlers in the comp as well. So I think, to be honest, I had a plan of just hitting what I got. And if I didn't get the ball, I wanted just to try and get off strike or just not get out really," he said. "So it was one of those wickets, and then, yeah, I just wanted to be there for a long time. Especially once [Ajinkya Rahane] got out, I knew I had to take a bit of responsibility.

"I think it's just for me to keep my intent early, trying to get in good positions. If it's there, try and hit it for four or six. And if it's not, just try to get off strike. I'm just trying to get in stronger positions so I can be more consistent, you know, that's going to help me combat the ball moving off the wicket and the swing. That's the plan, really, just try and keep it simple."

One of the things Sanjay Bangar said he had noticed was Allen's improved game against spin. On Saturday, the first bit of spin on display was when Rashid Khan bowled the eighth over of the KKR innings. The first three balls went for 6, 6, and 4 as Allen went long-on, then midwicket, then straight. R Sai Kishore replaced Rashid, and the first ball Allen faced off him also went for six, down the pitch and over long-on. Sai Kishore eventually removed Allen, but he had put on quite a show by then.

"His play against spin has improved by leaps and bounds, where he's hanging on the back foot and he disturbs the length of the spinners quite nicely," Bangar said. "I have seen a slightly earlier version of Allen during my time with RCB [Royal Challengers Bengaluru], where he was a back-up to Faf [du Plessis]. At that time, he was a lot more of a one-sided player, and that was because when he picked up the bat, it was literally a closed face. An open face generally gives you a great bat swing to hit those balls over mid-off, long-off, or even if you want to cut past point. "He is now scoring all sides of the pitch literally, and that's a great advantage to have because then the bowler suddenly thinks, where do you bowl. So, on his day, I think there are very few areas where you can contain somebody like Finn Allen."