India, March 5 -- There is a peculiar cruelty to cricket. It can ask you to wait an entire day for a moment that lasts less than a second. For photographers stationed along the boundary ropes, the challenge is even tougher. You must power through hours in the heat and thousands of uneventful frames. And then, without warning, you have your money shot.

At the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, when Pathum Nissanka flung himself sideways to intercept Glenn Maxwell's reverse sweep, time slowed. The ball hovered, his body stretched and somewhere near gully, Ishara S. Kodikara pressed his shutter six times to capture one unforgettable still.

Within hours, the image travelled far beyond the boundary ropes, across timelines and screens built for motion....