Rashid Khan has stepped away from Test cricket on medical advice after a serious back injury and surgery in late 2023. His doctor has advised him to avoid the red-ball format for now, as the physical demands are too high during recovery. Test cricket requires long spells and repeated workloads over several days, which put added strain on the lower back. For a player recovering from surgery, that level of workload carries risk.<\/p>\n
Rashid\u2019s decision is not a retirement from Tests but a pause based on fitness concerns. The injury and surgery have forced him to manage his workload more carefully. He has returned to action in white-ball cricket, but the demands of Test matches are different. Bowling long spells, sometimes in difficult conditions, increases the chance of aggravating the injury. Medical advice has therefore been clear: avoid red-ball cricket until fully ready. Rashid has acknowledged that Tests are currently difficult for him from a physical point of view, and any return will depend on how his body responds over time.<\/p>\n
In his Test career so far, he has played six matches and taken 45 wickets. He last featured in a Test against Zimbabwe in January 2025. With the bat, he has scored 154 runs, including one half-century, adding value as a lower-order batter. He is also the fastest Afghanistan bowler to reach 45 Test wickets, with a bowling average of 20.44 and five five-wicket hauls.<\/p>\n
For now, Rashid will continue to play One Day Internationals for Afghanistan national cricket team. He believes he is in good condition to handle the format over a longer period. ODIs and T20s allow better control over workload, with shorter spells and more recovery time between matches. This helps him stay available for major tournaments and global leagues, where he remains a key player. Rashid is still one of Afghanistan\u2019s main match-winners in white-ball cricket, and the team relies heavily on his skills. His future in Test cricket remains open, but only when his fitness allows him to take on the demands safely. For now, protecting his body and extending his career remains the priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rashid Khan has stepped away from Test cricket on medical advice after a serious back injury and surgery in late\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":47869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47871,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47868\/revisions\/47871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}