Afghanistan great Rashid Khan to sit out most Test matches

The talismanic tweaker has been told by medical authorities to shift his focus away from red-ball cricket due to a back injury that first occurred in 2023.

Going against that advice, Khan played a Test against Zimbabwe in January. And in the aftermath, he could see the doctor had a point.

"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," Khan told ESPN this week.

"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.

"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."

It's a pity, because Khan has exemplary figures. Since his Test debut in 2018, he's picked up 45 wickets at a miserly average of 20.44.

As Afghanistan is not part of the World Test Championship, they have a severely limited Test season. While their next five-day is against India in June, Khan is focusing on the ODIs, especially with the 2027 ODI World Cup not far away.

"ODIs, yes, I enjoy," he continued.

"And I'm in 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.

"Get myself ready for the World Cup. Imagine something happens to my back in that Test match. 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."

The mystery spinner averages just 19.65 in the 50-over format, and a handy 19.08 at a strike rate of over 100 with the bat.