Rashid Khan is cutting down on playing Test cricket to prolong his international career for Afghanistan. He is the captain of the team in T20Is but was told to step back from red-ball cricket after his back injury in 2023. He once played a Test against medical advice and ended up bowling 55 overs. However, the spin bowler is now functioning on a one Test match per year system to keep himself fit.
He played only one Test match last year, against Zimbabwe in January and might or might not play against India, scheduled to take place in Juneย after the Indian Premier League (IPL). “The doctor told me like, ‘if you don’t want to play cricket, you keep playing the red-ball cricket’ because it’s not going to support you.
“You won’t be [there] for longer to play for Afghanistan and I still went and I still played and when he knew I bowled 67 [55] overs in one innings, in two innings, he was shocked. He was ‘no, you can’t do that to yourself’. I will think about that,” Rashid said as per ESPNCricinfo.
Rashid Khan aiming to be ready for ODI World Cup 2027
Rashid Khan is now aiming to get ready for ODI World Cup and is even unsure if he would play the one-off Test against India. “Get myself ready for the [2027 ODI] World Cup. Imagine something happens to my back in that Test match (vs India). I can’t play 100 Test matches. If you’re playing one Test in a year, I can’t play for 100 years. And there is no target in Test cricket,” Rashid added.
He also noted that he is currently enjoying playing ODIs and his body is also in good shape for him to play the format for Afghanistan. “ODIs, yes, I enjoy.ย And I’m in a good shape to play ODI for a longer period of time for Afghanistan, but just to be careful with how many I play and not to put too much load on myself, to be careful if I want to play for a longer period of time.
“But especially, red-ball is something which looks a bit difficult for me to keep it. Yes, one Test in a year, I will take that. But I don’t think so more than that I can play. I will try. I can play but [only] if I bowl a spell of 20-25 overs. But then I have to bowl the whole day if I’m in a team. Last two Test matches if you take, I bowled 167 [154.2] overs which is I think too much,” Afghanistan’s premier bowler further said.
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