Star Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan has hinted that he may miss the one-off Test match against India in Mullanpur in June after doctors advised him to avoid red-ball cricket after back surgery.
Rashid stated that maintaining his fitness for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa is still his first objective, despite the allure of playing a Test in India.
The 27-year-old, who had lower back surgery after the 2023 ODI World Cup, disclosed that medical professionals had advised him against using the conventional format. In spite of this, he bowled 54 overs and claimed 11 wickets in a Test match against Zimbabwe last year.
“Very tough question. It’s a little difficult in red ball, because that was the first thing which was told to me by the doctor, ‘You have to stay away from red ball.’ But I still played a Test against Zimbabwe,” PTI quoted Rashid telling reporters after starring in Gujarat Titan’s one-run win over Delhi Capitals in the IPL on Thursday.
“He (doctor) said ‘if you don’t want to play cricket, you keep playing the red ball format’,” he said.
Rashid has only appeared in six of Afghanistan’s 12 matches since they were granted Test status in 2017.
“ODIs, yes, I enjoy, and I’m in a good shape to play ODIs 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,” he added.
Rashid was unsure when reminded of the match versus India following the IPL: “You’re asking me very tough questions. I think I already played one before (in 2025), so I will just take it easy, 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, so there is no target in Test cricket,” he said.
