New Zealand were without three of their first-choice players in the World Cup 2023 opener against England including skipper Kane Williamson but were still able to hand the defending champions a colossal loss. Now, New Zealand coach Gary Stead has provided an important update before the second game.

"We’ll continue to take a day by day approach to Kane’s rehabilitation and certainly won’t be putting any pressure on him to return before he is ready,” Gary Stead said ahead of New Zealand's warm-up game against Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2023 on Friday, September 29.

Kane Williamson suffered a right knee injury during the Indian Premier League 2023 opening game but is set to join the team for the ICC World Cup 2023.

Kane Williamson was earlier ruled out of the World Cup but his recovery has been better over the course of last four months. He is still not ruled out of the mega event but is not looking too far ahead at the moment.

Kane Williamson got injured in the first match of IPL 2023 while playing for Gujarat Titans against the Chennai Super Kings. He was deemed to be ruled out of the World Cup then but Williamson seems to have recovered quicker than expected.

"Nice to be on the bike, do fitness sessions on the bike, and progressing from the lower level, stuff that's really, really controlled, to getting better with my movements," Williamson added.

Kane Williamson took to Instagram to post a video of him batting during a net session.

Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on 30 at the end of Day 1 of the first innings of first Test against West Indies. He will be looking to add more to his tally on the second day.

Kane Williamson has been benefited by the no-show from the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Root in the Lord's Test in the ongoing Ashes series.

ODI World Cup in India is set to commence on October 5. Williamson got injured during the opening match of IPL 2023 between CSK and GT on March 31.

New Zealand are already likely to be without their talismanic skipper Kane Williamson and now Michael Bracewell's injury has left them in a hole for the mega event.

Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 after sustaining a knee injury in the game against CSK

IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans batter Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the tournament after sustaining an injury in the season opener

In the 77 IPL matches that he played, Kane scored 2101 runs.

Earlier in the match which is being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Gujarat won toss and opted to bowl.

Kane Williamson recently crafted a thrilling win for New Zealand in the Test match against Sri Lanka on the final ball of the day.

WATCH: New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka in the first test of the two match series by 2 wickets. The match went down the wire and the result came on the very final ball of the match.

India have qualified for the WTC final as New Zealand have beaten Sri Lanka in the first Test by three wickets thanks to a sensational ton from Kane Williamson.

PAK vs NZ, 1st ODI, Highlights: Pakistan win by 6 wickets, take 1-0 lead in series

Brook who was named the player of the series in both T20 & Test series against Pakistan recently was sold to SRH after an intense bidding war between Rajasthan Royals.