Akhtar's Knee Surgery: Closer To The End?

Shoaib Akhtar was criticized heavily by former Pakistan captain Shoaib Mallik, who captained the one day series when Sri lanka were in Pakistan for the one day series. Now it appears he will not be playing the Test series, and it is not criticism but critical kneew surgery that has ruled him out.
Akhtar apparently has lose bone fragments in his left knee which will require a key hole surgery to get rid of. Intikham Alam, coach of the Pakistan team, admitted that the selectors did consider recalling players for a practice match before announcing the Test squad. But it seems the matches have been cancelled and Akhtar, who has not played a Test match since the end of December 2007, has lessened the headaches for the Pakistan selectors.