Kane Williamson’s return to international cricket after his long knee-injury layoff was a mixed one. He led New Zealand to an eight-wicket win and scored 78 in the chase against Bangladesh, but also picked up a freak left-thumb injury that forced him to retire hurt.

“Got a bit fat and colourful straightaway,” Williamson, wearing a glove on his left hand, told Ian Bishop at the presentation ceremony about his injured thumb, adding that that’s all he knew about the injury at that point.

This was in the 38th over of New Zealand’s chase of 246, which they went on to finish with 43 balls in hand. Williamson was taking a quick single after playing Taskin Ahmed to mid-on to move to 78 and, as the throw came in and missed the stumps, it hit him flush on the left glove. The team medics came out right away, and Williamson continued batting after on-field treatment, which included some bandages being wrapped around the thumb and the hand. But a few balls later, he opted to leave the field.

“Just made holding the bat a little difficult,” Williamson told Bishop by way of explanation about retiring hurt. He will get scans done on the thumb on Saturday.

As for the condition of the knee, which was tested in a competitive game for the first time in months – he ruptured his ACL at the IPL in March – a laughing Williamson said, “Secondary to the thumb.” He added, “Great to get through [the game] actually, from a knee perspective.”

Meanwhile, it wasn’t a great day for his opposing captain Shakib Al Hasan. Not only did Bangladesh lose the game, Shakib, who scored 40 in 51 balls in Bangladesh’s 245 for 9, also picked up a left-quad injury while batting. He finished his innings, and then bowled all his ten overs – by the 37th – before leaving the field.

Najmul Hossain Shanto, the Bangladesh stand-in captain in Shakib’s absence, said that Shakib had left to get scans done on his left quad.

Shakib picked up the injury while completing a run to move from 23 to 24 in the 29th over of Bangladesh’s innings, when it looked like he had jammed his leg in the ground. He was on 24 off 45 balls at that stage, and picked up the pace to get to 40 off 51 before miscuing an attempted pull off Lockie Ferguson to be dismissed.