Afghanistan cricket’s poster boy Rashid Khan will not play Test cricket in the near future to nurse his back after undergoing surgery last year.
An Afghanistan Cricket Board source told PTI that Rashid and the team management had mutually decided to quit the longer format considering his back problems.
Earlier this week, he was not included in the preliminary squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand in Greater Noida starting September 9.
Rashid was out of action for four months after undergoing back surgery following the ODI World Cup in India in October-November. He was part of the most recent T20 World Cup in the US and the Caribbean, where he captained Afghanistan to the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old recently played three matches in as many days in the Shpageeza T20 league in Kabul, taking six wickets in total.
“The plan for Rashid after the surgery was to gradually increase his workload. Not playing the longer format for the next six months to a year was also part of the plan.
“In Tests, he will be required to continue bowling from one end and his back is not prepared for that kind of workload. He should be available for the ODI series against South Africa next month,” the source said.
Rashid has played five Tests, 103 ODIs and 93 T20Is for Afghanistan, who can hardly play the five-day match against top-tier teams like New Zealand.
He had also suffered a hamstring injury during The Hundred in the UK earlier this month.
The Afghanistan team is now in Greater Noida, their adopted home base, and has begun preparation for the Test against New Zealand.
Rashid should be able to play all three ODIs against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates starting September 18, the first bilateral series between the two nations.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 30, 2024 | 1:19 PM IS
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