Rashid Khan has made peace with the idea that he will probably play no more than a single Test each year. The Afghanistan leg-spinner, 27, has been managing a lingering back problem since 2023 and believes this cautious approach is the only way to stretch out his international career.
The turning point, he says, came in Bulawayo early last year. Keen to help Afghanistan over the line against Zimbabwe, he sent down 55 overs in the first innings alone – 67 across the match – despite advice to stay away from red-ball cricket altogether.
“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.”
That conversation appears to have stuck. Rashid ticked off his solitary Test for 2025 against Zimbabwe but looks unlikely to feature when Afghanistan meet India in Bengaluru on 6 June. “I’ve already played one before. So I will just take it easy,” he admitted on the sidelines of the IPL this week.
He is blunt about the arithmetic. Afghanistan are outsiders in the World Test Championship cycle, so the incentive is limited. Meanwhile, the 2027 ODI World Cup is marked in thick red pen. “Get myself ready for the [2027 ODI] 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.”
His current workload in the shorter formats is heavy enough. On Wednesday he took 3 for 17 in four overs, nudging Gujarat Titans past Delhi Capitals by a single run. Twenty-over spells are short and sharp; a five-day fixture, by contrast, demands marathon stints – and Rashid knows that as Afghanistan’s lead spinner he seldom gets to hide at fine leg.
“ODIs, yes, I enjoy,” he said. “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.”
Six Tests, 45 wickets at 20.44 – that is his red-ball ledger to date, impressive on paper yet scattered across eight years. Analysts argue he could finish with numbers to rival any modern spinner if his body allowed, but the reality is less tidy. A stress fracture in 2023 forced him out of surgery at the last minute, mainly so he could appear in a home World Cup. The gamble left him operating at half-pace for months and, by his own admission, in constant pain.
Afghanistan’s selectors will still want their trump card on turning pitches when possible. A one-Test-a-year policy keeps that door ajar without risking a total breakdown. From a wider viewpoint, it mirrors the choices many players from emerging cricket nations now face: commit to the prestige of Tests with minimal financial return or pivot towards white-ball competitions that pay the bills and, crucially, keep the body ticking over.
Long-term, Rashid’s honesty about his limitations may set a template for his team-mates. For the moment, though, his calendar is simple: finish the IPL, tune up for the T20 World Cup, sprinkle in as many ODIs as the back allows – and, if everything aligns, sneak in a solitary five-day cameo each year. That feels about right, even if it leaves aficionados wanting a little more.
