Oakland [US], June 13 (ANI): New Zealand's destructive opener Finn Allen shattered 'Universal Boss' Chris Gayle's record for most sixes hit in a T20 match during his swashbuckling exploits with San Francisco Unicorns' 123-run triumph over Washington Freedom in the opening game of Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025.

Allen dazzled with his enchanting 151-run blitzkrieg from 51 deliveries, which was laced with a rollicking 19 towering maximums, bettering the joint-record held by Gayle (vs Dhaka Dynamites in 2017) and Sahil Chauhan (vs Cyprus in 2024), who tonked 18 sixes each.

He took 49 deliveries to blaze past the 150-run mark in Oakland, the fastest in the format, surpassing the record previously held by Dewald Brevis, who got off to 150 in 52 deliveries against the Knights in 2022 in South Africa's domestic tournament.

Out of his tally of 151, Allen garnered 134 runs from boundaries, including 114 coming off 19 sixes. Only Gayle, Hazratullah Zazai and Graham Napier have managed more runs through boundaries in a T20 innings. His 151 is the highest individual score in the history of MLC. Nicholas Pooran previously occupied the spot at the summit with his explosive 137* against Seattle Orcas in the 2023 final.

Allen required just 34 deliveries to reach the three digits, which is the second-fastest in a T20 franchise league behind Gayle's 30-ball effort against Pune Warriors in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013.

Overall, the Unicorns hammered 28 maximums, the second-highest by a team in a T20 match. They are behind Baroda, which tallied 37 sixes against Sikkim last December in India's domestic T20 tournament. The Unicorns struck at least one six in 16 of the 20 overs of their innings.

Unicorns' total of 269/5 is the highest a team has managed to pile up on the board in the tournament's history. Unicorns also became the first team to cross the 200-run mark in the United States. The previous highest was 245/6 posted by the West Indies against India in 2016 in Lauderhill. (ANI)