Playing for the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the 2025 edition of the league, Karima Gore of the USA has had an astonishing start to his CPL career.
From 16 ODIs for the USA, Gore has 210 runs at 16.15 without a fifty but 13 wickets at 31.23. In eight T20Is, he has 10 wickets while going at 4.96 an over. He has batted only thrice in these games – but has amassed 47 in 28 balls. In all T20, his strike rate hovered around the 140-mark ahead of the 2025 CPL.
All these indicate that while he is primarily a left-arm spinner who bats in limited-overs cricket, Gore can be used as a hitter. That was precisely how the Falcons used him in their first two games of the season.
Until this tournament, Gore had never batted in the top five, but the Falcons promoted him to one-drop. He strode out when they lost their first wicket three balls into their tournament opener, against the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He ended up smashing a 34-ball 61 (eight fours, two sixes) out of the 91 his team made during his stay. The Falcons then collapsed to 121 as Waqar Salamkheil returned 4-22. The Patriots chased the target with five overs in hand. Gore did not bowl.
Neither did he bowl in the Falcons’ second game as the Barbados Royals put up 151-6. Walking out at 18-1 after 2.2 overs, Gore remained unbeaten on a 53-ball 64 with three fours and two sixes to help the Falcons win with two balls to spare. He was named the Player of the Match.
These are still early days, but there is little doubt that Gore has made an impression.
Match 3, Antigua & Barbuda Falcons vs Barbados Royals
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- Ball by ball Over
Who is Karima Gore?
Born in Bronx, New York, Gore rose through age-group cricket in the West Indies for the Leeward Islands. He made news in 2017 when he made 140 not out and 53 not out for the Liberta Blackhawks against the Pigotts Crushers. In the second innings, he batted alongside his father Ian.
Karima Gore hit 93 on first-class debut, for Leeward Islands in the Four-Day Championship. In contrast to his white-ball international career, Gore’s 10 first-class games have fetched only six wickets, though he has 454 runs at 25.22 with five fifties.
In 2019, he took 4-20 to bowl out Papua New Guinea for 115 in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2. That year, he had figures of 16-2-70-8 in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Region Final in Bermuda.
Playing for Victoria in the 2024 edition of the Global Super League, Gore had 83 runs at 132 to go with figures of 12-0-114-2. For the San Francisco Unicorns in the 2025 Major League Cricket, he had 7-0-55-3 from three games. Then came the 2025 CPL.
