New Zealand captain Kane Williamson confirmed that he will be making his return to international cricket with his side's third match in the ICC ODI World Cup against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Friday.

Williamson had ruptured his ACL in March this year during the opening match of the 16th Indian Premier League (IPL) and had to undergo a knee surgery.

Though he wasn't fully fit, the New Zealand selectors named the 33-year-old in their World Cup squad.

Williamson travelled with the team during their tour of England in August and September and even batted in the practice game against Pakistan before the tournament, where he made a half-century.

Still, Williamson sat out New Zealand's first two matches in the competition, as he was not yet a hundred percent fit.

But New Zealand will have their regular skipper with them in their third World Cup game against the Tigers on Friday.

"It's been quite a journey but largely a good one that's had some really good progress. I've said a number of times, really excited to be named in the World Cup squad, be sitting here now and really excited at the prospect of tomorrow," Williamson told the media on Thursday.

"A new venue, new opposition, as we know, which always happens in world events. And we're looking forward to the challenge," he added.

But it's not all good news for the Kiwis as experienced pacer Tim Southee still hasn't recovered from his injury and won't be playing against the Tigers, confirmed Williamson.

The MA Chidambaram Stadium lived up to its reputation of being a spinners heaven in the match between India and Australia, where the Indian spinners bundled out the Aussies for just 199.

Bangladesh will be banking on their spin attack to come good on the track, while New Zealand will also hope that the likes of Ish Sodhi, Mitchel Santner and Rachin Ravindra will play their part against the Tigers.

Williamson feels that spinners will play a huge role in Friday's game in Chennai.

"We have seen here that there's been that spin and the pitch has varied perhaps as the games moved on as well so throughout the day - but definitely I think both teams have some good spin bowlers that no doubt will play a big part tomorrow.

"For us as a team it's really just trying to keep focusing on our plans and what we set out to do and do our roles as best we can, sort of knowing that it could look a little bit different, to perhaps our first couple of games," he said. 

New Zealand started off the World Cup campaign on a high, winning their first two games convincingly against the defending champions England and the Netherlands.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, lost their second game by 137 runs against England after starting off their World Cup campaign with a six wicket win over Afghanistan.