Ravinder Singh "Ravi" Bopara is an English cricketer who plays for Essex and England. Originally a top-order batsman, his developing medium pace bowling is making him a vital all-rounder and he has the best bowling figures for England in a Twenty20 International. Bopara has also played for the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League.
Bopara was first called up to the England One Day International team in 2007, before a difficult Test debut in Sri Lanka saw him dropped in early 2008 after a string of three ducks.
He regained his place for a Test against the West Indies in the winter of 2008-09; on his return to the side, Bopara became the fifth batsman to score three consecutive Test centuries for England. Despite this success, during the 2009 Ashes Bopara again struggled and was dropped for the final Test of the series.
Bopara headed for the West Indies with England Lions in January 2011 after he missed out for the 2010-11 Ashes series Test and ODI squad and the 2011 World Cup. His stay in the Caribbean was cut short when he was called up to England's World Cup squad before the tournament as a replacement for the injured Eoin Morgan.
Bopara played in England's opening match against the Netherlands and scored a match-winning 30 from 20 balls. After that, he did not play against India and Ireland as England chose to field a second spinner, Michael Yardy.
Bopara returned to play against South Africa in place of the dropped Paul Collingwood. Bopara came in with the score at 15/3 and managed a partnership of 99 with Trott; Bopara ended with 60 of 98 balls.
England restricted South Africa to 165 and Bopara was named the man of the match.
In 2011, Bopara turned down £100,000 to play for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL as a late replacement for the injured Paul Collingwood.
After Collingwood retired from Tests, Bopara and Morgan were the leading contenders to take his place in the side.
Bopara, who had already scored two centuries in the County Championship by May, was the favourite but an innings of 193 by Morgan for the England Lions against the touring Sri Lankans kept Bopara out of the Test side.
After missing out on the series against Sri Lanka, he returned to the team in August for the third Test against India in place of the injured Trott.
In the following ODI series with India, Bopara was England's top run scorer with 197. In the tied fourth ODI Bopara hit a career-best 96 before being dismissed by Munaf Patel.
On 23 September 2011, Bopara claimed the best bowling figures by an Englishman in a T20 international with 4/10.
