Aasif Yusuf Karim was a Kenyan cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. Of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n ancestry, Karim made a reputation for himself as a useful lower-order batsman but predominantly as a left-arm spinner, frequently said to be one of the best outside the Test

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

-playing nations. Karim also holds the unique distinction of having captained his country in both representative cricket (ODIs) and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 (Davis Cup

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...

) competition. Karim retired from international cricket following the 1999 World Cup

1999 Cricket World Cup

-England:-Outside England:-Group A:-Results:-------------------------------------------------------------Group B:-Results:------------------------------------------------------------...

 in England but was persuaded to return to add experience to Kenya's squad for the 2003 World Cup

2003 Cricket World Cup

-Group stage tables and results:The top three teams from each pool qualify for the next stage, carrying forward the points already scored against fellow qualifiers, plus a quarter of the points scored against the teams that failed to qualify.-Pool A:...

 in South Africa where he helped Kenya become the first non-Test match playing nation reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. During the Super Sixes match against Australia

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

, Karim gave the Australians a scare with figures

Bowling analysis

In the sport of cricket, a bowling analysis usually refers to a notation summarising a bowler's performance in terms of overs bowled, how many of those overs are maidens , total runs conceded and number of wickets taken...

at one stage reading 8-6-2-3 and collecting Man-of-the-match honours. He lost in his last ODI, the World Cup Semi Final against India. Karim announced at the end of the tournament that he would be retiring once again, this time for good.

Karim represented Kenya in the Davis Cup in 1988. He played two singles matches and one doubles match, and won all three matches because of him.

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