New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson prioritizes healing amid 2023 CWC doubts

The Black Caps ODI captain ruptured the ACL in his right knee in April while playing for the Gujarat Titans during the Indian Premier League T20 tournament.

Williamson made 216 runs in 13 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2022 edition but did not make a contribution for his new team in the 2023 IPL after injuring himself trying to take a catch on the boundary in his first match of the campaign.

The 32-year-old has been off crutches for a month as he continues to progress in his rehabilitation but is wary of pushing too hard to recover in time for a 2023 World Cup spot.

"As much as I'd love for everything to pan out from a time perspective, the healing of the injury is the focus," he told Newstalk ZB.

"There is still cricket after the World Cup and I would like to be involved in that. The focus is just on each day, each week and not getting too far ahead of myself, because it's perhaps on the unlikely side of expectations. Naturally in my mind, there's a level of interest because the timings aren't drastically far apart, but there's a lot of work to do before that being a potential reality."

The all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in test cricket has just a little over three months to recover fully for the ODI tournament in India which begins on 5 October.

"It's a balance to strike, being a little bit patient and managing my own expectations," said the inaugural World Test Championship winner.

"The journey is a long one in terms of getting stronger and getting that mobility and movements that aren't fixed. If I was left to my own devices, you'd be, naturally, pushing it. There's been some good improvement but there's a real balance between the healing, which is largely out of your control, and increasing strength around the ACL, which is something you can largely control.

"It's a bit of a balancing act, but I have people around me that are experienced with these sorts of injuries, so I do as I'm told," he added.

The two-time Cricket World Cup runner-up (2015 and 2019) does admit that being on the sidelines has got him to look forward to playing the sport again.

"If anything, having these blocks off you get very keen to get back into what you love doing, which is playing the sport and hopefully for a little bit longer yet," concluded Williamson.