Rashid Khan Hints At Test Retirement; Likely To Miss IND vs AFG One-Off Test In June

Rashid Khan casts doubt on his red-ball future due to fitness concerns, potentially impacting Afghanistan ahead of their Test against India.

Gujarat Titans vice-captain Rashid Khan, who is currently participating in IPL 2026, has cast serious doubt over his participation in red-ball games. Notably, Afghanistan national cricket team is set to face India national cricket team in a one-off Test in June, where Rashid Khan’s absence might hamper the visitors’ chances.

After IPL 2026 ends, Afghanistan’s Test match scheduled in June will be played following their first Test encounter against India in 2018, after almost an eight-year hiatus. However, Rashid has expressed concerns over his health and fitness regarding his availability for red-ball cricket.

“I think I already played one before (against India in 2018 in Bengaluru). I will just take it easy. Imagine something happens to my back in a Test match. But I can’t play 100 Test matches. If you play one Test a year, you can’t play for 100 years!”

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Rashid shared how his doctor has advised him to stay away from red-ball cricket, given the long and demanding nature of the format, which requires significantly more workload than an ODI or a T20I match.

“Red-ball cricket is a little difficult because that was the first thing my doctor told me – ‘stay away from red-ball cricket’. I still went ahead and played. After the surgery, I played a game against Zimbabwe and bowled 67 overs, which was crazy. The doctor told me, ‘if you don’t want to play cricket, you can keep playing red-ball cricket’.

“He said it’s not going to help me and that I won’t be able to play for long. I still went ahead and played, but when he found out I had bowled 67 overs across two innings, he was shocked. He said, ‘you can’t do that to yourself,” said Rashid in the post-match press conference, as quoted by IANS.

Rashid Khan Committed Towards ODI & T20I Cricket

However, Rashid also shared that he remains committed to ODI cricket, where he enjoys playing and believes he can continue for longer. His appearances in red-ball cricket, however, will be limited from now on.

“So yes, I will think about it. But ODI cricket – I really enjoy (playing) that format. I am in good shape to play ODIs for a longer period for Afghanistan. However, I want to be careful about how much I play and not put too much load on myself if I want to have a longer career.

“Red-ball cricket is something that looks a bit difficult for me. If it’s one Test a year, I will take that, but I don’t think I can manage more than that. I will try, but if I bowl a spell of 20–25 overs, I have to bowl the whole day if I’m in the team. In my last two Test matches, I bowled 167 overs, which is simply too much. I will take it easy and prepare myself for the World Cup,” he concluded.