the right mix of talented individuals to spring a sur | Forum

R Ashwins career-best match haul of 13 for 140 against New Zealand in the Indore Test has propelled him back to the top of the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Steven Stamkos Jersey . Ashwin had earlier briefly held the position in July, before being overtaken by Dale Steyn and James Anderson.Ashwin picked up 6 for 81 in the first innings and followed it up with 7 for 59 to achieve a career-best rating of 900 points. He joined an elite club of bowlers to have attained 900 ratings points since 2000; Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock being the others.Ashwin is now trailed by Steyn, with 878 points, and Anderson on 870. While Steyns next Test will be in Australia starting November 3, Anderson is aiming to be fit for the India tour, as he is missing the Bangladesh Tests. Ashwin has a good chance to retain the top spot until the end of the year, with India in the midst of a lengthy home season. If he does so, it will mark the second year in succession that Ashwin closes out the calendar year as the No. 1-ranked Test bowler. Ashwin also leads the allrounders table, while team-mate Ravindra Jadeja surged to a career-best third, joint Moeen Ali.Among batsmen, Ajinkya Rahanes innings of 188 and 23 not out in Indore helped him rise to a career-best sixth position, making him the only Indian batsman in the top 10. Vincent Lecavalier Jersey . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Ryan McDonagh Jersey . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. http://www.hockeylightning.com/ . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. PRISTINA, Kosovo -- Footballs newest country is hoping to be the surprise package of the World Cup qualifiers, just a few months after gaining FIFA membership.Kosovo became a UEFA member in May, joined FIFA a week later and was fast-tracked into 2018 World Cup qualifying.It earned a credible 1-1 draw in Finland last month in its competitive international debut and is looking to spring more surprises against Croatia and Ukraine, even if coach Albert Bunjaki believes the European Championship in 2020 is a more realistic target.Kosovo plays Croatia on Thursday in Albanias northern city of Shkodra as it has no stadium certified by UEFA. It also plays on neutral territory three days later, with its away match against Ukraine being held in Poland as its opponent does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state.It will be a hard game, Kosovo coach Albert Bunjaki said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday. We know that Croatia is a good team and after three days well play against Ukraine. But at the same time you know in football you can surprise.Weve started the qualification. Our goal is 2020. At the same time of course we will try to do the best in every game, so the next one is the Croatian national team. We will get the answer after the game. We will try to surprise them as we can.It was a far from easy match against Finland. Kickoff was less than five hours away when the sportss governing body finally allowed six players who had represented other countries to switch their allegiance to Kosovo now the former province of Serbia is recognized as a football nation. Custom Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys. .Valon Berishas case was the last to be resolved and the former Norway international converted the penalty which secured Kosovo a point in Group I, putting it level with the other teams after both Croatia-Turkey and Ukraine-Iceland also ended 1-1.Its going to be hard for us because we just started up with this national team, Berisha said. We are a lot of new young players who dont know each other very well. I think it will take time until we form a really good group.We made a good first impression I think and we could have won the game against Finland. But now we are up against two really good international teams. It will be hard for us but we can surprise them because they might take us a little bit easy and it might go against them.Defender Leart Paqarada also believes Kosovo has the right mix of talented individuals to spring a surprise.Our team spirit is very well and we are well prepared for the game, he said. We have individual quality in the team and thats why I think maybe we can surprise somebody.---Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania contributed to this report. ' ' '