When asked about England's batting order and whether it needed a rethink after a modest run in the competition, Harry Brook had been content with the status quo, particularly his own position at No.5. That was before the Super 8 clash against Pakistan in Pallekele.

Come Tuesday, with Phil Salt back in the pavilion for a first-ball duck, it was the England captain himself striding out at No.3, setting in motion one of his finest white-ball innings.

The move was anything but spontaneous. Brook revealed later that the promotion had been discussed that very morning with head coach Brendon McCullum. "It's Baz, Baz is the mastermind there," he said. "He had a discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the Powerplay and thankfully it paid off."

In truth, the idea had been brewing longer. Brook admitted he had been keen to push himself higher up the order across formats. "I'd been thinking about it for a while, and it's something I want to do in my career moving forward anyway, not just for England but also in franchise cricket. I want to get up there and try to face as many balls as possible."

And what better opportunity than against a favourite opponent. "Baz said that this morning. He said, 'what do you think about going number three? Pakistan's your team,' and I was just like, 'let's do it'."

If the comment carried a hint of dressing-room humour, the underlying numbers gave it weight. Brook's returns against Pakistan across formats have steadily grown into something substantial, and in Pallekele he added his first T20I hundred against them to an already imposing body of work.

But the situation England found themselves in demanded far more than Brook's favourable history against Pakistan.

Shaheen Afridi blew the chase open from the very first ball, removing Salt and then striking twice more inside the Powerplay to leave England reeling at 35 for 3. Jos Buttler's lean tournament continued, Jacob Bethell followed soon after, and for a brief stretch Pakistan had both scoreboard and momentum firmly in their grasp.

Brook's first task was survival, his second restoration, and the third to turn the pressure back on Pakistan.

There was nothing frantic about the way he went about it. Even in those early exchanges, Brook's approach was clear. He was willing to use his feet against the quicks, prepared to take on the pull when width appeared, but equally content to drop and run when the fields tightened. The boundaries that came in the Powerplay were useful, but the more telling feature was his ability to keep the chase moving without visible strain.

By the end of the sixth over, England were still three down, but Brook had gradually nudged the equation back towards something manageable. Pakistan, though, threw another challenge England's way. Tom Banton's brief stay ended when he edged Usman Tariq's googly, bringing Sam Curran to the crease with England still some distance away at 58 for 4.

If it was an opening for Pakistan to tighten their grip, it was equally an opportunity for Brook to assert greater control over the chase, and the middle overs became a study in controlled aggression. Against spin, Brook was particularly assured. He used the depth of the crease to disrupt lengths, trusted the sweep when the line strayed, and was quick to convert anything marginal into a scoring opportunity. His fifty, brought up off just 28 balls, arrived without the innings ever feeling rushed.

Still, Curran's dismissal could have reopened the door for Pakistan, with England 103 for 5 in the 12th over. Instead, it simply pushed Brook into the next phase of the chase, with Will Jacks providing him the support. Their partnership was again built on doing the right things - smart and low-risk batting - with Brook at the centre of it. They ran hard between wickets, forced fields to be adjusted repeatedly and never allowed the Pakistan bowlers to settle.

There was also clear calculation in Brook's shot selection and in the timing of his acceleration. England still needed 48 from the last six overs when the game entered its decisive phase. Brook was in the seventies and Jacks was just settling down into a partnership with his captain. Pakistan still had Afridi's final over in hand, along with one over left for their main bowler - Usman Tariq.

Tariq had figures of 2 for 17 from his first three overs and came in for the start of the 16th, trying to nudge Pakistan towards a stronger position heading into the endgame. But he went for 14, a six for Jacks and a four for Brook putting England ahead. Afridi returned in the 17th over for what felt like Pakistan's last realistic window. Jacks managed to find a boundary early in the over, but the moment belonged to Brook, who struck a six and a four to reach his century off 51 balls - a milestone marked by a brief look skyward and a standing ovation from the England dressing room.

It was the highest individual score by a captain in a T20 World Cup and the joint second-fastest hundred in the tournament's history. Brook also became the third England player to register a hundred in all three men's formats, joining Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan. More importantly, it had dragged England to the brink. Afridi did have the final word of the duel, producing a pinpoint yorker to bowl Brook with the last ball of his spell. But the celebration was muted as the damage from the England captain had already been done.

"I think this will be his best innings of his life," is how Shaheen Afridi described Brook's knock. "He should be credited for playing proper cricketing shots. The wicket was not easy. If we look at the batters, they were all struggling. But look at his knock..."

The finish, though, was tighter than England would have liked - two wickets for Mohammad Nawaz left England needing 3 off the final over. But Jofra Archer managed to finish it off with a boundary, bringing relief and elation to the England camp. The closing act had its own tension, but it was Brook who had long since decided how this night would end.

On the day, England did not simply need a counterattack. They needed a stabiliser, an accelerator and a closer rolled into one innings. Brook delivered all three, batting at No.3 for the first time in his T20I career.

So how did he feel batting at three? "It's a lot easier facing their main threat bowlers when you're on 30 or 40 rather than starting against them. The longer I bat, the better it is for me."

Will he continue batting at three? "I don't know. That's something for me and Baz to chat about."

Before Tuesday, Brook was happy at five. That seems a long time ago now.