Revealed: Why Rashid Khan will not play one-off test match against New Zealand in Noida

Rashid Khan was not named in Afghanistan’s preliminary squad to face New Zealand in a one-off test in September.

Afghanistan will play their first-ever test match against New Zealand in September in Greater Noida. However, they will be without their ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan for this one-off test, which begins on September 9.

Earlier this week, Rashid was left out of Afghanistan’s preliminary 20-man squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand. The leg-spinner last played a test match in March 2021 and has since missed all red-ball cricket for injury and workload management reasons.

The Afghanistan squad has arrived in India for a one-week preparatory camp.

Why Rashid Khan will not play the one-off test match against New Zealand in Noida?

Because of his back injury issues, Rashid Khan has been given a break from the one-off test against New Zealand. A source in the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) told news agency PTI that Rashid’s back is not yet ready to bear the workload of bowling in test cricket.

“The plan for Rashid after the surgery was to gradually increase his workload. Not playing the longer format for the next six months to one year was also part of the plan,” the source said.

“In Tests, he would be required to keep bowling from one end and his back is not ready for that kind of workload. He should be available for the ODI series against South Africa next month.”

Rashid Khan, who had a back surgery last year, reportedly suffered another back injury earlier this month while playing for Speen Ghar Tigers (SGT) in the Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL), which is Afghanistan’s domestic T20 competition.

He played three matches on three consecutive days from August 18 to 20. It was during the third match that he experienced pain in his back and skipped the next two matches. Rashid also suffered a hamstring strain while playing in The Hundred earlier this month.

Afghanistan’s preliminary squad for one-off Test against New Zealand:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad, Yama Arab

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