Indian pace bowler Mohammed Shami is facing uncertainty over his fitness ahead of next month's tour of Australia, according to skipper Rohit Sharma. Shami, who recently underwent heel surgery, has been dealing with a knee issue while trying to regain full fitness. The team is currently unsure if he will be ready in time for the upcoming series.

Shami has not featured for the national team since the 50-overs World Cup final against Australia last year. He was nearing full fitness before being sidelined from the three-test series against New Zealand, which starts on Wednesday. "To be honest, right now it's pretty difficult for us to take a call on him. Whether he would be fit for this series or the Australia series," Rohit told reporters. "He recently had a setback. He had a swelling in his knee, which was quite unusual... We're keeping our fingers crossed."

The Indian team is keen on ensuring Shami is fully fit before considering his return. "We want him to be 100% fit more than anything else. We don't want to bring an undercooked Shami to Australia. That's not going to be the right decision for us," Rohit emphasized. India's tour of Australia includes five tests beginning on November 22, and Rohit expressed hope for Shami's participation.

"The physios, the trainers and the doctors have set a roadmap for Shami. He's supposed to play a couple of games before he plays an international match," Rohit said. "We'll see where he's at after this New Zealand series and then take a call at what stage of the Australia tour he will be fit for us."

Rohit also looked forward to the challenge of facing New Zealand after a successful 2-0 sweep in the Bangladesh series. A victory against New Zealand would extend India's winning streak to 19 series, dating back to a 2-1 defeat by England in 2012. "For us, each team brings different challenges. We've played a lot of cricket against New Zealand, we know their players as well as their strengths and weaknesses," Rohit added. "But I've said this many times, what's important for us is that what we do better in this series than we did in the last."

"We'll try not to focus too much on the opposition. We'll try to focus more on ourselves."