Skipper Kane Williamson was on Saturday ruled out of New Zealand’s next three World Cup matches at least, including the India game on October 22 in Dharamsala, after fracturing his thumb while running between the wickets against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.

The game against Bangladesh was Williamson’s first international outing in more than six months following his recovery from an ACL injury, which he had suffered during the IPL in March. Williamson retired hurt after a well-made 78 on Friday night.

A stroke of sheer bad luck has made Williamson unavailable for the games against Afghanistan here on October 18, India in Dharamsala on October 22 and South Africa in Pune on October 28. His comeback for the remaining three league games in November will depend on how fast he recovers.

“An X-ray has confirmed an undisplaced fracture to Kane Williamson’s left thumb, after he was struck by a throw while running between the wickets in Friday’s match against Bangladesh in Chennai,” New Zealand Cricket said in a statement.

“Williamson will remain in the Black Caps ICC Cricket World Cup squad with the aim of being available for the back end of pool play next month.”

Tom Blundell will travel to India as cover but will not officially be part of the squad, while Williamson enters the rehabilitation phase.

Coach Gary Stead though sounded hopeful of Williamson playing further part in the tournament. “Firstly, we’re all feeling for Kane to have this occur after all his hard work to return from his knee injury,” Stead said.

“While it’s disappointing news, the initial diagnosis has given us some optimism that he can still feature later in the pool play following a period of rest and rehabilitation.

“Kane is clearly a massive part of our side and a world-class player and captain. So, we’ll look to give him every opportunity we can to return in the tournament.”

According to Stead, Blundell’s versatility saw him selected to join the squad as cover, while Henry Nicholls wasn’t considered after suffering a mild side-strain during Canterbury’s Plunket Shield warm-up match against Otago during the week.

“Tom has been with the one-day side on tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh and performed well,” he said.

“He covers multiple positions in the batting order and his wicket-keeping skills are also an added bonus as a back-up.”

Williamson was included in New Zealand’s World Cup squad in spite of being in the recovery stage. He had earlier travelled and trained with the squad in England leading up to the World Cup.

“It needed a little bit of icing afterwards, but it’s all part of the process,” Williamson had said after his half-century in the warm-up against Pakistan. “Yeah, playing in the World Cup certainly wasn’t a reality five months ago and I’ve been quite fortunate with some of that recovery, and to be named in the squad is really exciting for me.”

Although Williamson missed New Zealand’s first two matches against England and the Netherlands, they went on to win both games convincingly under the leadership of Tom Latham. The left-handed keeper-batter Latham is likely to lead again when the Black Caps face the Afghans coming Wednesday.

Written with PTI inputs