Centurion Finn Allen was quick to turn his attention to Sunday's final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup after he helped guide New Zealand to an emphatic victory over South Africa in the semis with a record-breaking innings.
Allen was in scintillating form as he blasted the fastest century in the history of the Men's T20 World Cup, with the right-hander bringing up his hundred in just 33 deliveries to break the previous record of 47 balls from West Indies great Chris Gayle.
The hard-hitting New Zealand batter was in a destructive mood as he smashed 10 fours and eight massive sixes, combining well with fellow opener Tim Seifert (58) to help the Black Caps chase down the victory target of 170 inside 13 overs.
It put New Zealand into their first Men's T20 World Cup final since 2021 and has them well placed for a maiden title according to Allen.
"To get one over them (South Africa) is a huge confidence booster for us going into Sunday," Allen said after the nine-wicket triumph.
"They've been the in form team the whole tournament. So I think as a group, to take that win going into Sunday is huge for us, but you got to start again on Sunday. It's a new opposition, different conditions, and all that.
"For us, we just look to take the positives out of this game and get a flight to Ahmedabad tomorrow and start again."
While Allen and Seifert will receive the majority of the plaudits for their excellent partnership, New Zealand's bowlers also made a great impact with Matt Henry, Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie each picking up two wickets to ensure South Africa's highly-rated batting lineup were never able to gather much momentum.
Allen praised the Black Caps' bowlers, believing his job was made much easier courtesy of the plans that were carried out during the Proteas' innings.
"Well we just hoped (Mitch) Santner would win a toss to start and he did that. So that was the first part done. And then from then onwards it was just, take the bull by the horns. Take the game on, not shy away from any challenge," Allen continued.
"Like I said earlier, the bowlers certainly did that to start off with. They set the tone for us and taking early wickets on what we thought was going to be a really good batting wicket was extremely important.
"They've got an incredibly powerful batting line-up and yeah, look, hats off to the boys. They set it up for us with the bat and yeah, as I said, we didn't really have a plan, me, and Timmy, just try and be positive and hope for the best."
New Zealand now await the result of the second semi-final in Mumbai just to find out who they will face in Sunday's final and Allen was quizzed about whether he would prefer to tackle India or England in the title decider.
England defeated New Zealand by four wickets during the Super Eights phase of the tournament, while the Black Caps have not faced off against India at the tournament.
"I think we're happy with anyone I think - as a team I back us," Allen noted.
"We've got a lot of momentum going into the weekend. I think if we play our best cricket we can beat anybody.
"So we'll be watching tomorrow night. But yeah, I think either way, I think hopefully we get up for Sunday, as it will be a spectacle."
