{"id":22496,"date":"2025-12-16T15:30:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=671896"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:30:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T10:00:56","slug":"ipl-2026-auctions-finn-allen-sold-to-kkr-for-rs-2-crore-set-for-long-awaited-ipl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026-auctions-finn-allen-sold-to-kkr-for-rs-2-crore-set-for-long-awaited-ipl-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026 Auctions: Finn Allen sold to KKR for Rs 2 crore, set for long-awaited IPL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter <strong>Finn Allen<\/strong> was picked up by <strong>Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)<\/strong> for <strong>Rs 2 crore<\/strong>, his <strong>base price<\/strong>, at the ongoing <strong>IPL 2026 mini-auction<\/strong>. Despite being one of the most destructive batters in T20 cricket globally, Allen is yet to play a single match in the Indian Premier League.<\/p>\n<h3>IPL journey so far<\/h3>\n<p>Allen was first associated with the IPL in <strong>2021<\/strong>, when he joined <strong>Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)<\/strong> as a replacement player. He remained part of the RCB setup for multiple seasons but did <strong>not feature in the playing XI<\/strong>, finishing his stint without an IPL appearance or statistics to his name.<\/p>\n<p>At the <strong>IPL 2025 mega auction<\/strong>, Allen went <strong>unsold<\/strong> despite carrying a base price of <strong>Rs 2 crore<\/strong>, continuing his wait for an opportunity in the league.<\/p>\n<p>That wait ended at the <strong>IPL 2026 mini-auction<\/strong>, where <strong>KKR secured his services<\/strong>, marking his <strong>first association with a franchise other than RCB<\/strong> and keeping the door open for a potential IPL debut.<\/p>\n<h3>No IPL numbers yet, but strong T20 reputation<\/h3>\n<p>As of now, Allen has played <strong>zero IPL matches<\/strong>, with no runs or wickets to his name in the league. However, his reputation is built firmly on performances outside the IPL. Allen is regarded as a <strong>pure T20 specialist<\/strong>, boasting a <strong>career T20 strike rate exceeding 160<\/strong> across competitions.<\/p>\n<p>One of the defining moments of his T20 career came in <strong>June 2025<\/strong>, when he smashed the <strong>fastest-ever 150 in T20 cricket<\/strong>, reaching the landmark in just <strong>49 balls<\/strong> while playing in <strong>Major League Cricket<\/strong>. The innings, which included <strong>19 sixes<\/strong>, reignited interest from IPL franchises.<\/p>\n<h3>What Allen brings to KKR<\/h3>\n<p>With his ability to attack from ball one and his experience as a wicketkeeper-batter, Allen offers KKR an <strong>explosive top-order option<\/strong> and squad flexibility. Secured for <strong>Rs 2 crore<\/strong>, he represents a high-impact, high-upside signing as KKR look to strengthen their batting depth for IPL 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Finn Allen was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 2 crore, his base price,\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":42688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}