New Zealand captain Kane Williamson made a successful return at the World Cup following his injury layoff with a half-century as the 2019 runners-up beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in Chennai on Friday for their third successive victory.
Chasing 246 to win after New Zealand’s pace bowlers Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult and Matt Henry ripped through Bangladesh, Williamson (78) batted superbly in his first competitive game since rupturing his knee ligament in March.
He forged an 80-run partnership with Devon Conway (45) and dropped anchor in the company of Daryl Mitchell (89 not out) but retired hurt with a finger injury, before New Zealand crossed the finish line in 42.5 overs.
Williamson had tried to play through the pain after being hit on his left thumb by a fiery throw when completing a run and also experienced some soreness in his knee late on.
Mushfiqur Rahim (66) and captain Shakib Al Hasan (40) staged a comeback with a 96-run partnership after their side got off to a wobbly start with careless strokeplay earlier, but Bangladesh never built on that platform to finish on 245-9.
Williamson, who sat out the victories over England and the Netherlands, opted to bowl first after winning the toss and his team struck with the first ball of the contest as Trent Boult (2-45) had Litton Das caught at fine leg.
Ferguson (3-49) extracted early pace and bounce from the MA Chidambaram Stadium wicket to get rid of Tanzid Hasan (16) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (30) while Glenn Phillips dismissed Najmul Hossain Shanto in his first over to reduce Bangladesh to 56-4.
An injured Shakib fell while attempting to pull Ferguson for a second straight six in the 30th over, before Mushfiqur had his stumps shattered by Matt Henry (2-58) as Bangladesh ended with a modest total despite a late surge by Mahmudullah (41 not out).
