England cricket gets another Indian

The ambition did not touch Greaves as it wasn8217;t unusual for kids in little Bopara8217;s generation to wish to be like Tendulkar. But his enthusiasm did. And that seems to have proved enough to put him in the big league of English cricket.

More than a decade later, Bopara has become the first product of Greaves8217;s revival initiative to make it to the England squad 8212; he has been named to replace Kevin Pietersen in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia. Pietersen is returning home with a broken rib.

Greaves today told The Sunday Express that he never expected the Indian kid would become Capital Kids8217; mascot and be one of the most promising cricketer in England.

8220;He wanted to be England8217;s Tendulkar but now he has a task that is equally difficult 8212; to replace Kevin Pietersen and tour Australia,8221; said Greaves. Despite England8217;s dismal show in the Ashes and the first one-dayer, Greaves doesn8217;t think it8217;s a trip to the slaughter house for his star student, who has been playing for Essex since 2002.

Bopara 8212; known as Puppy in the dressing room 8212; was born in 1985 in London in a Sikh family. His father Charanjit Singh Bopara was born in Punjab but moved to London as a boy.

The young cricketer had a role play when England floored the Aussies during last year8217;s Ashes tour. A 134 for Essex in a side game against a fierce Aussie attack meant Bopara, who has had a long stint with the England A and under-19 national squad, was ready for the big stage.

And that8217;s something many at the World Cricket Academy WCA at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai, where Bopara has had two stints, vouch for. WCA director Sachin Bajaj recalls the friendly guy who was a livewire on the field. 8220;It was a real pleasure to know him. The late Hanumant Singh was his mentor and he spoke very highly of him,8221; he says.

8220;A top-order batsmen, a brilliant fielder and an occasional bowler, too. He isn8217;t a slam-bang player but someone who can play in the gaps,8221; says Bajaj. It is a description that his coach at Essex, Graham Gooch, agrees with. The former England opener has called him a player who 8220;fits the bill of the modern cricketer 8212; talented with the bat, brilliant in the field and a useful medium pacer in one-day cricket8221;.

Guru Greaves ranks Puppy8217;s professionalism high. 8220;He told me once that his father had a tough time waking him for school. But on cricket days, it was Bopara who used to wake his father.8221;