The Afghanistan cricket team has to play a one-off Test match against New Zealand next month. Before this big match, the Afghan team has suffered a major setback. The team’s dashing all-rounder Rashid Khan has decided to take a break from the long format of cricket. Rashid has taken this big step due to recovering from his back injury after surgery last year. The Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand will begin from September 9. This match will be played in Greater Noida, India, which is also Afghanistan’s home ground. The Afghanistan team management, which came to practice on the first day for this Test, informed about Rashid Khan taking a break from Test cricket.

Surgery was done after the World Cup

Rashid suffered from lower back pain after the 2023 ODI World Cup played in India and underwent surgery in November. After this, he had to stay away from the field for about four months. Recently, Rashid participated in the Shpageeza T20 League in Kabul, during which he took a total of 6 wickets in three matches. Earlier this month, he also suffered a hamstring injury while playing The Hundred tournament in the UK. Since the surgery, Rashid is taking special care of his workload, which also includes not playing in the Test format for the next 6 months to 1 year. This is the reason why he has now decided to take a break from Test cricket. Now it remains to be seen when Rashid is able to return to Tests.

Here is Afghanistan’s starting squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hasan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mehboob, Ikram Alikhel (wicketkeeper), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (wicketkeeper), Azmatullah Umarzai, Ziaur Rahman Akbar, Shamsur Rahman, Qais Ahmed, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masood, Fareed Ahmed Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmed and Yam Arab.

(Inputs: PTI)

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