Ravi Bopara wants to be England's Tendulkar

Ravi Bopara strolls into the Chelmsford pavilion. He is all smiles, with big hands, a stocky build and tracksuit top and bottoms. His presence is room-filling but unforced, putting you straight at ease.
His big smile makes him look younger than his 22 years and immediately approachable. There is nothing clumsy or hurried about his handshake or his small talk.
But then it is only right that he should be relaxed; Essex is his home from home. However, his reputation suggests that, no matter where he finds himself, he will cope.
This reputation was polished on the world stage in April. It was one of the few thrilling matches of the World Cup. England needed 102 in 16 overs to beat Sri Lanka and stay on course for the semi-final. They were six wickets down. At the crease were 36-year-old Paul Nixon, playing his 15th one-day international, and Bopara, with only four ODIs behind him.
But while Nixon fidgeted, Bopara was visibly detached, the calmest man on the field. Watching him ease his way to 52, with pushed ones and twos and creative flicks for four, was a study of a man thinking only about the next scoring option. Everything else - the noise from the stands, the need for a win, playing in the World Cup at 21 - seemed to be blocked out.
Although there was an unhappy ending - Bopara bowled by Dilhara Fernando needing three to win off the last ball - it could be the beginning of a great story.
"I said to myself when I was 17 that I wanted to represent England by the time I'm 21," says Bopara, matter-of-factly. "Although that happened, I never expected to be at the World Cup so early."
That his plans were slightly ahead of schedule clearly did not bother him in the Caribbean. "I had my plan against Sri Lanka and I set myself a clear goal of what I wanted to do. I said to myself, 'I'm going to score my runs here, here and here and not worry about the total or how they're bowling.' Like all of my batting, I was just thinking about where I'm going to score rather than looking at the big picture."
The game sealed Bopara's growing reputation as a wristy, impulsive and intelligent batsman who could build different types of innings - from slow-burners to boundary-filled assaults. And he took his form into the county season. By the beginning of August he was averaging in the high 60s with the bat and had scored his first double-hundred.
His medium-pacers were also proving more and more effective, especially in one-dayers. No wonder he is unfazed.
Bopara believes that a streetwise childhood helped foster his level-headed approach. Born in Forest Gate, East London, to Indian parents, he was touched by the game at an early age while watching his dad play park cricket for Internationals CC. Ravi remembers hating it when he was not taken.
While his dad played, Bopara and his brother would throw a ball around on the side. Most nights from the age of nine were spent playing cricket with his friends from the local area, often in slightly dodgy surroundings.

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Courtesy:Cricinfo