Pakistan legend Wasim Akram has seen it all in his life. He rose to prominence at the 1992 World Cup where he picked up 18 wickets – the most in the tournament – that clinched the only 50-over World Cup for his country.

Akram took three wickets in the final against England and went on to become the greatest left-arm bowler in the history of the game. However, for all that hard work, the Pakistan icon said he received just $1,800 out of a prize money of $40,000. If you adjust for inflation, the overall prize money would be worth around $72,000 (Dh264,000) in 2018.

To put things in perspective, Akram is the brand ambassador of the 10PL tennis cricket tournament that will be held in the UAE from March 19-23. The total prize money for it is Dh250,000 which is around $68,000. That’s the prize money for a tennis cricket tournament.

Moving on to bigger tournaments, the prize money for the 2015 World Cup was $10 million with winners Australia pocketing close to $4 million (Dh14.6m). Even this year’s Under-19 World Cup champions India got a sizeable amount as winning bonus from the Indian board. Each member of the Indian U-19 World Cup winning team received a bonus of rupees three million (Dh170,000).

No doubt there is a lot more money in cricket now than in the previous century but even so, the difference becomes staggering when you look at actual numbers.

However, Akram said he is happy that cricketers are getting just rewards for their efforts.

“It is quite staggering. But I am happy for the present cricketers. What they are getting now is their luck. What I received was my luck. But I am not a guy who gets jealous. I am someone who gets happy that professionals are getting proper money,” Akram told Sport360 during the launch of the second edition of the 10PL 2018.