Ben slam dunks way to a record
dubai — A ‘slam dunk,’ a very popular shot in basketball, was coined by American sportscaster Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn back in the day.
It is a very high percentage shot where a player jumps through the air to force the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim.
One is not sure if Ben Dunk plays basketball but the Australian does know what his percentage shot is — sixes. And the Queenslander, who turns 33 next Wednesday, used that bread-and-butter shot to good effect in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Lahore.
The southpaw smoked an astonishing 10 sixes — a record in the PSL — to shake Lahore Qalandars out of a rut and post their first win in this edition.
Dunk, who previously featured for the Karachi Kings, clubbed 93 from 43 deliveries as the Qalandars knocked Quetta Gladiators, the defending champions, to put themselves on the board.
The previous record of sixes hit in an innings was eight which was accomplished by five batsmen — the Akmal brothers, Umar and Kamran, Kevin Pietersen, Colin Ingram and Sharjeel Khan.
And Dunk was surprised to know he had rewritten the mark.
“First of all, didn’t realise it was a record but certainly nice to do that,” said Dunk.
Dunk’s compatriot Ben Cutting, whose side Gladiators, faced the wrath, reckoned that Dunk is one of the best batsmen when it comes to T20 cricket.
Dunk, though said that it was kind of Cutting to say so.
“That was very kind of Ben Cutting. I went to school with Ben Cutting so maybe he’s being a nice friend from old times. It certainly is lovely to be here in Pakistan, playing in front of a crowd and I must say that supporters still came out even when we didn’t start the tournament the way we would’ve liked to. They showed a lot of patience in us and hopefully we can keep giving them something to cheer about,” he said.
Dunk also ranked the knock as one of the best he had played so far.
“It certainly rates quite highly up there,” Dunk said.
Dunk also gave an insight into how he goes about his batting.
“For me, I just try and stay as present as I possibly can. I try and focus on the one ball that’s coming down, try and be in a good space and if it is in my spot, then I can play a good cricket shot. I think the rest of the noise, if you want to call it that, is just a distraction. If you can somehow push that to the side, which is challenging, you can perform at your peak,” Dunk explained.