KARACHI: Legendary Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram saluted on Thursday the 鈥渆ffort鈥� of the artist who created a statue of him that has spawned scorn on social media.

The statue of Akram 鈥� one of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers to play the game 鈥� was installed outside the southwestern city of Hyderabad鈥檚 Niaz Stadium in April.

Akram is shown bowling wearing the kit of the 1999 World Cup team, when Pakistan were runners-up.

Nearby is a statue of a tiger.

One fan mocked the statue, saying: 鈥淭he only thing that looks real is the ball,鈥� adding the face looked more like Hollywood hero Sylvester Stallone.

The affable Akram, however, took to social media to praise the effort.

鈥淟ots of talk about my sculpture being erected at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. Mine is definitely better than the tiger,鈥� he posted on X.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the idea that matters. Credit to the creators, full marks for the effort and thanks to everyone involved.鈥�

Australia has a history of placing statues of their iconic players outside their stadiums, while India unveiled one of master batter Sachin Tendulkar outside a stadium in Mumbai in 2023.

Niaz stadium chief Shiraz Leghari told AFP: 鈥淭he artist did his best effort, but accepts it doesn鈥檛 resemble (Akram) a hundred percent.鈥�

Akram is one of the country鈥檚 most celebrated cricketers, having represented Pakistan in 104 Tests and 356 ODIs with 414 and 502 wickets respectively.

He was the leading wicket-taker in the 1992 World Cup when Pakistan claimed the trophy.