India, May 11 -- Krunal Pandya lay flat on the pitch in Raipur, body locked in cramps, breath heavy, legs refusing command, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru's chase still alive by a thread.

The frame carried cricket memory back to Wankhede in 2023, when Glenn Maxwell stood on ruined legs against Afghanistan and dragged Australia from a World Cup grave. Raipur did not produce another Maxwell 201. It produced a smaller but rawer, IPL-shaped echo of the same impossible image: a batter trapped inside a failing body, still swinging hard enough to bend the match.

Maxwell's 201* against Afghanistan already belongs to cricket's permanent theatre.

Australia were 91/7 chasing 292 in a World Cup match. Afghanistan had the game in their hands. The ...