As the humidity thickened over the Khettarama on Friday night, New Zealand had one foot in the semi-finals. On an expectedly sluggish surface England's innings had stalled; chasing 160 they had been whittled down to 117 for 6. Tom Banton, who had been threatening a late charge with a 24-ball 33, had just heaved one straight to deep midwicket in search of the short boundary. The equation made for grim reading: 43 runs required from 19 balls.
Then, Rehan Ahmed walked out to join Will Jacks.
Rehan, now 21, with only his grizzled beard disguising the fresh-faced 18-year-old that had become England's youngest debutant across formats, was playing in his first match this tournament and indeed his first-ever World Cup game. But the events of the next several minutes had been set in motion the previous day.
Rehan, among others, had taken part in a prolonged hitting session at the Khettarama on Thursday evening, with a particular emphasis on the straight boundaries. And it was one particular strike - a skip down the track and an almost cross-bat slap down the ground - that would prove at once prescient and reminiscent.
"Baz [McCullum] actually sent one of them walkie-talkie things downstairs, saying to tell Ray to bat like a Sehwag - as a joke," Rehan quipped after the game. "Yesterday we were training on a similar wicket and I was just trying to hit sixes straight."
That joke eventually became a blueprint, as Rehan cracked an unbeaten 19 off 7 to preserve England's perfect Super Eight record and secure a semi-final berth against one of India or West Indies - a knock which included a pair of massive sixes down the ground.
One of them was part of an 18th over which proved to be the turning point of the chase as the pair of Rehan and Jacks hammered 22 runs off Glenn Phillips. They hit a six apiece - the one from Rehan sailed deep into the stands. He followed it up in the 19th by reverse-sweeping Mitchell Santner for four before launching a 90-metre hit - almost identical to that slap he had played less than 24 hours prior in the nets - over long-off, to leave England needing just five from the final over.
"The first one was probably my favourite," Rehan later revealed, when asked which of his sixes he enjoyed the most. "I went out there with no intentions of looking at the scoreboard. I was trying to make three or four sixes, got two away, and Jacksy did the rest."
Indeed, with the innings flagging and the tension peaking, Jacks took the lead but was quick to credit Rehan with providing him with the belief that they could in fact do what needed to be done.
"I knew we needed to do something special, and that ball that Rehan hit - the six second-ball - that gave me energy as well. I thought, right, we've got a chance here. And then obviously, I finished the over six, four, four, and we were on.
"I think small moments like that are so important, not just the runs, but the way it happens. Hitting a big six and really showing the bowler that you're on there, and we believe that we can win this, is really crucial."
Jacks was understandably full of praise for his younger compatriot, acknowledging the unique challenge of coming in from the cold in such a high-pressure situation and needing to deliver almost immediately.
"Everyone knows it's hard to perform when you haven't had game-time. To come out and do that in his first game... he should be proud of himself. He takes the game head-on and doesn't shy away from anything."
Long before the fireworks though, Rehan had played his part with the ball too, taking a wicket with his very first delivery in a World Cup. It was a certifiable drag-down, but Rehan wasn't complaining.
"When I got the wicket, I did relax a bit more," he reflected afterwards. "It wasn't the best ball and the rest of the over wasn't the best, but I was chuffed to get that first wicket."
Capping off his list of firsts, in a surprising tactical move, Rehan was also handed duties to bowl the final over of the New Zealand innings. It was something he had never done before in T20s, but was required as the exceptional Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson and Jacks himself had all bowled their allotted quotas, while seam just wasn't optimal given the surface.
"It was on the fly," Jacks said, when asked how the decision came to be. "He obviously stood up there. He got hit for six [off his] last ball, which was annoying, but he did a good job. He's learned so much from Rashid taking him under his wing."
Rehan, who finished with more-than-respectable figures of 2 for 28, took the decision equally in stride. "[They] said you're bowling and I was happy with it."
Despite these heroics, Rehan remains remarkably grounded; whether he keeps his spot for the next clash in Mumbai is irrelevant, his only focus is the team's success.
"I'm not too bothered about my place in the team," he insisted. "Baz and Brookie will put their best team out there. If I get the night I'll play, and if not, I'll give water to the boys. It was great fun tonight, it shows that when you train a certain way and replicate the magic, it helps."
But while he may not turn out for England again this tournament, with the action moving to surfaces requiring less of his present skill-set, to say the future is bright is an understatement. Already being entrusted with the game's pivotal moments, on World Cup debut no less, Rehan might just be England's first true product of the modern era of cricket, a player for whom risk is genuinely a foreign concept.