Sports Desk
LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars batsman Ben Dunk on Tuesday said that he was unaware that he had broken the record for most number of sixes hit by a player in a single innings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
“I was unaware of the record for the most number of sixes in an innings by a player, but when I found out I was happy,” Dunk, who is an Australian cricketer, said after the Qalandars won the match.
“No doubt this was one of the top innings of my career. Most of all, this was a great effort on part of the team because we needed to win this match,” Dunk told reporters after the match.
Our start to the tournament was not the best. We were not playing well as a group. Individual players were performing though. Muhammad Hafeez played a brilliant knock,” Dunk added.
“Shaheen Shah Afridi also bowled a good spell in one match. But we were not succeeding as a team. Winning our first match after three tries feels good, it will give confidence to the players,” he said.
“We need to maintain this momentum. We have important matches coming up in the week, one after another. Winning these is important. Today’s match against Islamabad is important too,” he noted.
Talking about his innings, Dunk said that he was not thinking about the past, but had his eyes on the ball. “Foreign players are naturally under more pressure to perform,” he said.
“The fans supported us. I wanted to stay on the crease for as long as possible and eventually that paid off. We scored and our bowlers then delivered the victory for us,” Dunk maintained.
How many sixes did Dunk hit?
Dunk on Tuesday broke the record for the most sixes in a single innings of PSL 2020. The left handed batsman broke the record in the 17th over of the match against Quetta Gladiators by hitting the 9th six of his blistering innings.
He broke the record of eight sixes shared by five different batsmen: Umar Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Kevin Pietersen, Kamran Akmal and Colin Ingram. Dunk eventually ended up hitting 10 sixes. His 93-run blitzkrieg ended on the final ball off the innings.
Qalandars get the better of Gladiators
The Qalandars registered their first victory of the PSL 2020 by beating the Gladiators by 37 runs on Tuesday. Left-handed batsman Dunk was the pick of the batsmen as he hammered 93 runs off 43 balls, smashing 10 sixes and three 4s.
He got much-needed support from Samit Patel, who scored 71 runs from 40 balls, his innings featuring nine 4s and only two 6s. Ben Cutting proved of some help to the Gladiators as he picked up the two important wickets of Patel and Dunk, however, not before they had done the damage.
Cutting put up the only impressive performance for the Gladiators when it came to their batting, scoring a half-century that included five 6s and three 4s. He made 53 off 27 balls. Nawaz pitched in by scoring 24 runs from 17 balls before he was dismissed by Faizan, caught by Dilbar Hussain.
Earlier, Shane Watson looked to be in dangerous form as he hit two 6s but was caught by Dunk off a Dilbar Hussain delivery. He scored 23 off 17 balls. The Qalandars’ bowled well too as Dilbar Hussain, Faizan and Patel all picked up three wickets each. However, it was Salman Arshad who picked up four wickets to trouble the Gladiators the most.
