The China Mail - Allen ton powers Kolkata to fourth win in a row in IPL

The New Zealander brought up his ton with his tenth six which sealed a victory which had been set up by a superb exhibition of spin bowling masterminded by Sunil Narine,

West Indian off-spinner Narine took one for 17 from his four overs as the Kolkata spinners established a middle-overs stranglehold, restricting Delhi to 142-8 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

Narine was well supported by left-armer Anukul Roy and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

Between them, the trio snared three for 76 from 12 exceptional overs, derailing a Delhi innings that had begun with great promise after Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka made a polished half-century.

Nissanka and KL Rahul put on 49 for the first wicket on being put in by Ajinkya Rahane, but once the spinners came on, the scoreboard came to a virtual standstill.

Delhi were strangled by the brilliance of the Kolkata tweakers and failed to score a boundary for 38 deliveries at a stretch in the second half of the innings before Ashutosh Sharma provided the late impetus with 39 off 28 deliveries.

Allen, who came on as the impact substitute for a hobbling Chakravarthy, hadn’t survived the Powerplay in his previous six innings but he bided his time after losing Rahane, run out at the non-striker’s end backing up, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, bowled off his shoulder trying to sweep Axar Patel, in quick succession.

Allen found an able ally in Cameron Green, the powerful Australian all-rounder who was content to play second fiddle during a match-sealing unbroken third-wicket alliance that yielded 116 runs in 64 deliveries.

Dropped on 42 at long-on by Tristan Stubbs, Allen brought up his fifty off 32 deliveries before switching gears effortlessly.

He took down wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam with consummate ease, needing a mere 15 deliveries for his second fifty.

Allen breached the three-figure mark with the last of his 10 sixes, off paceman Mukesh Kumar, the boundary also muscling three-time former champions Kolkata home with 34 deliveries to spare.

Kolkata swapped places with Delhi on the points table, climbing to seventh and keeping their playoff hopes alive, while Delhi slumped to their ninth defeat at home in 11 outings since the start of the 2025 season.

F.Jackson--ThChM