IND vs AFG 2026: Rashid Khan likely to miss one-off Test to manage workload

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan could miss the one-off Test against India in June in Mullanpur to prolong his white-ball career. Fresh from leading the Gujarat Titans to a famous one-run win over Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026 thriller, Rashid hinted at playing just one Test a year to manage his workload better. After suffering from an injury three years ago in 2023, Rashid played just one Test match (against Zimbabwe in early 2025), and while he could tick off his one-Test-per-year mantra against India this time, Rashid is likely to give it a miss.

Reflecting on his conversation with a doctor over prolonging his white-ball career back then, Rashid revealed, "I bowled 67 [55] overs, which was crazy.

“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 like, 'No, you can't do that to yourself.' I will think about that,” he continued.

During 2023, when Rashid suffered from a back injury, he decided against getting under the knife (with the ODI World Cup looming), leading to him losing his sharpness as a bowler and suffering from severe pain. Three years later, Rashid has learned from his mistakes and wants to make the right decisions about prolonging his career in Afghanistan.

"I've already played one before. So, I will just take it easy," Rashid said. “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.”

Rashid focuses on ODIs

After guiding his IPL team to their maiden win this season, picking three for 17 against Delhi in a high-scoring thriller, Rashid focuses on playing more ODIs for Afghanistan.

"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, the 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 I think is too much,” Rashid concluded.

Meanwhile, as far as his international numbers go, Rashid has played 115 T20Is, 117 ODIs and just six Tests, picking a total of 448 wickets so far.