Two years ago on March 8th 2011, Shoaib Akhtar played his last ODI match (Pakistan vs New Zealand, 2011 Cricket World Cup). By no means was it a memorable match for the Rawalpindi Express as he conceded 70 runs in 9 overs, picking up only one wicket.
The questions remains - Should Shoaib Akhtar have continued to play beyond that and should have at least played the Semi-Final against India at Mohali?
Yesterday we saw another example of a team coming into a Test series with inadequate preparation (just 1 warmup game), and paying the price. Pakistan did the same against South Africa and there was of course a huge outcry about how we needed to get to South Africa earlier and play more practice games.
Realistically though, with the international calendar as it is, it's difficult to schedule in more first-class games, & we have to accept that it simply won't happen for most series.
A possible solution to this would be to ensure we ALWAYS play the ODIs/T20Is before the Tests. This will give the players an additional couple of weeks in the country before the Test series starts. The players in the ODI squad will be getting match practice anyway, and the Test players that don't play ODIs can be practicing, perhaps with local club sides and getting used to the conditions.
Seems a sensible approach to me, but will Tests be given the importance they deserve?