Bond is suffering from a stress fracture

Bond is recovering from a stress fracture in his back and New Zealand medical staff said they will not rush his return.

He is still a week away from returning to bowling in the nets after suffering the injury in Sri Lanka in May.

And after that he will only be able to bowl light sessions, of four overs maximum.

This means he is a serious doubt for the Test series because he will not be able to bowl the 15-20 overs a day needed on the hard Indian surfaces.

But there was better news for batsman Nathan Astle.

It's a long season and we won't be pushing things Warren Frost

He is expected to be fit for the tour of India, which begins with the first Test in Ahmedabad on 8 October.

NZ Cricket's medical co-ordinator Warren Frost said: "Shane is making very good progress but it's a long season and we won't be pushing things.

"He is pain-free which is a very good sign," Frost told the New Zealand Herald.

It is two months to go before New Zealand play the first Test but Bond would need "at least six weeks" of build-up in the nets before he is even considered for a match.

A more realistic target for Bond would be the one-day triangular series with Australia, which starts on 23 October.

Frost was more positive about Astle.

Astle, New Zealand's highest one-day international run scorer with 5540 runs from 174 matches, started batting again in the nets last week after the knee surgery in April.

He said: "We're just getting him [Astle] to feel confident on the knee but we're reasonably confident he can be there for the India series.

"He's pretty happy with how things are progressing."