Rashid Khan Takes Break from Test Cricket to Address Back Injury

The face of Afghanistan cricket, Rashid Khan, will not be playing in Test matches anytime soon as he recovers from back surgery performed last year.

According to a source with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, Rashid and the team management reached a mutual decision to take a sabbatical from the longest format due to his back problems.

He was left off of the provisional team earlier this week for the September 9 one-off Test match against New Zealand in Greater Noida.

during having back surgery during the October–November ODI World Cup in India, Rashid was sidelined for four months. In the more recent T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean, he led Afghanistan to the semifinals as captain.

In the Shpageeza T20 league in Kabul, the 25-year-old recently participated in three matches in a row and claimed a total of six wickets.

“After the surgery, Rashid was supposed to gradually increase his workload. Another aspect of the idea was to not play the longer format for the next six months to a year.

“In Tests, he would be required to keep bowling from one end and his back is not ready for that kind of workload. He should be available for the ODI series against South Africa next month,” the source said.

Afghanistan rarely gets to play the five-day format against elite nations like New Zealand, but Rashid has played five Tests, 103 ODIs, and 93 T20Is for the country.

Earlier this month, he had also had a hamstring injury while competing in The Hundred in the UK.

The Afghanistan team has already started getting ready for the Test match against New Zealand in Greater Noida, where it has chosen to call home.

Against South Africa, Rashid should be eligible to play the first-ever bilateral series between the two countries in the United Arab Emirates starting on September 18.

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