Rashid Khan takes break from Test cricket to nurse his operated back

Afghanistan cricket's poster boy Rashid Khan will not play the Test format in the near future to nurse his back after having undergone a surgery last year.

A source in the Afghanistan Cricket Board told PTI that Rashid and the team management had decided mutually on his break from the longest format considering his back issues.

Earlier this week, he was not named in the preliminary squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand in Greater Noida from September 9.

Rashid was out of action for four months after undergoing a back surgery following the ODI World Cup in India in October-November. He was part of the more recent T20 Word Cup in the USA and Caribbean where he captained Afghanistan to the semifinals.

The 25-year-old recently played three games in as many days in the Shpageeza T20 league in Kabul, taking six wickets in total.

"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 al