Victory scar: Krunal Pandya flaunts pic of bruised stomach after heroic knock vs MI

The photo said everything. A reddened bruise, raw and vivid, sitting on Krunal Pandya's stomach, a souvenir from the blows he absorbed during his 73 off 46 balls against Mumbai Indians in Raipur on Saturday.

"Some scars are proof that it was worth fighting for," he wrote underneath it on Instagram, hours after RCB's crucial win. The post went viral in minutes. Those who watched the game live needed no explanation. RCB vs MI: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

RCB were teetering at 39 for 3 in the sixth over, chasing 167 on a pitch that was stopping and jumping in equal measure. The top order had crumbled after Virat Kohli went for a duck, Rajat Patidar's pull leading to a top-edged catch off a hard-length delivery that cramped him at the last second. Promoted to No. 5, Krunal walked in and began his act, finding angles, disrupting bowlers' rhythms, and refusing to let RCB's chase die.

What he did not account for was his own body refusing to cooperate.

The cramps started mid-innings — first through his hamstrings, then spreading to his glutes. On a pitch that punished any footwork error, Krunal's legs began giving way beneath him. At one point he buckled, falling flat on the ground in agony. Ryan Rickelton, the Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper — technically the opposition — came forward and helped him back to his feet. A small moment of sportsmanship in the middle of a fiercely contested game.

Most other batters might have called for the physio and quietly accepted the situation. Krunal hit sixes instead.

When MI brought on Allah Ghazanfar in the 18th over, with 30 still needed from 18 balls, the spinner started with a dot. Then, with cramps visibly seizing him, Krunal launched two sixes in three balls off Ghazanfar, falling to the floor in pain after each one, then somehow getting back up and doing it again. The Raipur crowd, stunned into something approaching reverence, roared on both occasions.

By the time he was dismissed for 73, he had single-handedly taken charge of a chase that seemed lost, carrying RCB to a position where Bhuvneshwar Kumar could finish the job with a six in the final over off Arjun Bawa.

RCB scraped home in a last-ball thriller, needing two off the final delivery, which Rasikh Salam scrambled through the bowler's outstretched hand to win by two wickets.

After the game, Krunal spoke about what keeps him going through moments like these. "I hate losing, but I am a very graceful loser. If I lose, I have the stomach to accept it and find ways to get better," he said. "When you play cricket, you realise you have more bad days than good days. That obviously makes you humble in sport and in life."

He also credited the people around him. "A lot of credit goes to my wife, who has been a pillar of strength. My mom too. And I always remember my dad — he is no more, but he will be happy seeing me do well," Krunal said. "The more I do well, the more humble I become as a person."

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