New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns is expected to miss the start of the seven-match one-day series against India later this month, a team official said on Tuesday.
New Zealand Cricket medical co-ordinator Warren Frost believes the player needs to prove his fitness in domestic cricket before returning to the international game.
"Obviously we want him right for the World Cup and we don't want any complications from bringing him back too early," Frost said in a statement.
"We'd want him to play some games for Canterbury before he plays a one-day international."
Eight days ago, Frost had been optimistic that the New Zealand all-rounder would be fit for the one-day series, which starts in Auckland on December 26.
Cairns had surgery on his right knee in March and, after making a tentative comeback for his province Canterbury, had to undergo further keyhole surgery earlier this month to remove a piece of loose cartilage.
But Frost said that there had been no complications from the second surgery and that the all-rounder had begun cycling and pool work at the weekend.
New Zealand's domestic one-day competition begins on December 28 and Cairns would then be able to play up to five games for Canterbury before the fifth one-day international against India in Wellington on January 8.
"As long as he's fit when the team board the plane on January 29 [for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa], that's our main aim," said Frost.