compete on the international stage, the memory of its loss to Canada i

It was a bit of a job trying to explain R Ashwin was the worlds No. 1 bowler.Fifty-six overs for two measly wickets in Rajkot. How could he do this? That too at the start of a marquee series. Against an opponent who was supposed to read spin bowlers about as well as a toddler reads hieroglyphs. Clearly, this Test has been nothing short of a big smiley face sticking its tongue out at every prediction anyone has ever made about it. England are on top, if you didnt know.So maybe it wasnt surprising that after getting no reward with the ball, Ashwin scored a chanceless, effortless half-century after Indias situation had got as dicey as it ever had in the four days of play so far.Still, he could at least have thrown his bat around and got a few nicks over the slips and third man. Nope. Middled pretty much everything. Played beautiful little late cuts and cover drove like a champion.On the fourth day, the one Indian batsman averaging over 50 misjudged length, hit across the line and was bowled. Another trod onto his stumps. With five and a half sessions left, and a lead of 176 still intact, England had gained a substantial opening. Except, Ashwin stood in the way. Probably just to spite them. Or maybe it was to haul his team out of trouble. You decide whats more plausible.The hallmark of a batsman, it has long been said, is how much time he has to play his shots. The slowness of the pitch lent Ashwin a hand, but the ease with which he was picking good-length balls and manoeuvring them into gaps either side of the pitch was just too much. Sure, his stance is like VVS Laxmans. And yes, some of their shots are similar too. The running, definitely. Now he has gone and taken up the role as the rearguard specialist too?India wouldnt have won in St Lucia without Ashwin the batsman. He made 118 off 297 balls having come in at 87 for 4. They may yet lose in Rajkot but his 70 off 139 meant that might only happen if Englands bowlers can take 10 wickets in two sessions or so. Considering it has taken four days for the teams to bowl each other out, and with the turn expected of the pitch arriving to the party subdued and fashionably late, India have a good chance of keeping the series level despite trailing for most of it so far.Ashwin showed the magic in his hands every time he played the late cut. He also did the one thing that is inextricably associated with a pure batsman: farming the strike.India lost their ninth wicket in the 156th over. England needed six more overs to bowl them out because Ashwin kept finding a single off the last two balls of an over to make sure he was on strike for the next one. He would exploit Rashids drift by coming down the track and taking the ball on the full to find a single at long-on. He met wide yorkers from Ben Stokes with the open face and steered the ball behind point. He left Mohammed Shami with at best two balls per over.Ashwin was caught on the midwicket boundary going for a six off the last ball of the 162nd over. The field was brought up and offspinner Moeen Ali was bowling around the wicket, cramping him up and reducing the chances of working the ball into a gap. He saw the ball was tossed up, he realised runs were on offer, he backed himself to clear the fielder and he went for it. Hmmm. Thats about as batsman-y as it gets.I really shouldve known better and introduced Ashwin as the worlds No. 1 allrounder averaging 47 in Tests in 2016, a series-defining hundred included.Whitey Ford Jersey . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. CC Sabathia Jersey . 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He will miss league matches against Chelsea on Monday and West Ham on Dec.GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Team USA needs to decide which goalie will be its No. 1 starter.Team Canada has some questions on defense.Team North America is loaded with dynamic and exciting young talent but lacks veteran leadership.The Russians havent had much success on the international scale of late.Team Europe is a group of players without a country.Finland also has to settle on its starting goaltender.The Czechs have been slashed with injuries to key players.So what are the issues for Team Sweden? Absolutely nothing.The Swedes, fresh off a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, are solid in every aspect of the game. Its chemistry, depth, talent and consistency are four reasons Team Sweden will win the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.Its more than just a gut-check prediction.Each of these eight teams in this tournament are loaded with the best players in the world, so it shouldnt take long for every team to mesh during training camp. But after scouting Team Sweden for the first three days of camp, its as though this group has been playing together forever. In some cases, many of these players have, especially on the international level. The majority of this roster played in the last Olympics, and combined its players have 815 games with the national team.Theres a calm demeanor about Sweden. Its players collectively ooze a quiet confidence.Obviously, we want to win it, said forward Nicklas Backstrom. Ultimately, thats our goal. Were striving for that, but we know there are a lot of good teams out there, so we really have to play our best.Theres no blah-blah-blah to this teams chemistry.Its huge, Backstrom said. If you look at teams that have been successful, its always the team that really gets together and plays as a team. Its so important. Weve got to get everything together. Its been good so far, but were starting games [Thursday], so itll be interesting.Henrik Lundqvist is the No. 1 goalie now and for the foreseeable future, until he decides to give up his throne. Coach Rikard Gronborg can still be flexible with his lines and defensive pairings, but things appear pretty much set. Special teams looked fantastic during the first week of training camp. The players are focused and jovial as they prepare for a pair of preseason games against Finland on Thursday and Saturday before both teams travel to Washington, D.C., to continue the World Cup pre-tournament season.Sweden is the poster child for consistency -- and conformity.Everyone knows their role from the get-go, said defenseman Victor Hedman. We had a couple of meetings during August in Stockholm and went through the way we want to play and whos going to play where, so we had time to prepare. Its on everyone to bring their best to every game. Thats something were really looking forward to, and well try to play at our best when the World Cup starts.It starts in net.Lundqvist, who will not play in the first pre-tournament game against Finland, has been working hard in practice. Hes been getting plenty of reps and is fighting for every puck, even those third and fourth chances during drills. There was some concern that he could miss time after he took a puck to the ribs in practice last week, but he said he will play through thee soreness because it doesnt affect his game.ddddddddddddIts likely he will play in the second pre-tournament game against Finland on Saturday at Scadinavium in Gothenburg. Theres no doubt hes focused on the task at hand.This past month, Ive been skating harder than Ive done before just to prepare for this and prepare for the new season with the?New York Rangers. I feel like its an important year, Lundqvist said.Swedens special teams are potent. The first power-play unit features?Loui Eriksson, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin, along with defensemen Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. If that lineup doesnt scare you, Sweden follows with forwards Backstrom, Patric Hornqvist, Gabriel Landeskog and Filip Forsberg, with Anton Stralman running the back end. And dont be surprised to see Karlsson play the majority of the minutes on the power play because of his striking offensive ability.A major strength for Sweden is its ability to control the puck. These players are known for their hockey sense and can slow the game down and turn it into a thinking persons game. Eriksson is a master at doing this, and playing alongside the Sedins should allow him to make it even more difficult on his opponents.Each day after practice, Swedens centers have worked on faceoffs for more than 30 minutes. A team with such strong puck-possession skills needs to control faceoffs.Well, we recognized -- when we sat down and looked at our faceoff percentage last year for our centermen in the National Hockey League -- [that] its obviously not very good, Gronborg said. Its a big emphasis for us. And in a puck-possession game, theres no better way to gain possession of the puck than to win the faceoffs. It would be stupid for us not to work on it and emphasize it in practice, so thats what were trying to do.Before training camp, Swedens roster took a hit, losing captain Henrik Zetterberg, goalie Robin Lehner, defenseman Niklas Kronwall and forward Alexander Steen. Replacments were forwards Rickard Rakell, Mikael Backlund, goalie Jhonas Enroth and defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Backlund and Lindholm will not dress for the first pre-tournament game against Finland, Gronborg announced Wednesday.Even as Sweden prepares to compete on the international stage, the memory of its loss to Canada in the gold-medal game in Sochi is still fresh. Despite their professed one-game-at-a-time mentality, theres no doubt the Swedes would love another shot against Canada.Everybody who comes here, everybody who sits here, wants to win, Karlsson said. We dont want to go to have fun and not win. We want to go there have fun, play hard and win. That rubs off on the rest of the people in our nation, and theyre starting to expect it as well.Despite the underdog classification, Karlsson said it wouldnt be a surprise if Sweden beat Canada. In fact, you cant consider Sweden a long shot. Its the top team in the tournament.Weve beaten them before and we can beat them, Karlsson said. We know we can beat them. If we do, which I hope we do, if it ever comes down to it, it wont be a shock, but it would definitely be a big thing. ' ' '