When inclusion in England team made Bopara forget his birthday!
Playing cricket for the country is special. More if a player has been out of the side. Just ask Ravi Bopara.
What does an inclusion in the national team mean to cricketers? A lot more than anything else in the world, if you ask England's Ravi Bopara.
Named in the national side for the Champions Trophy - announced on Friday - Ravi Bopara was so ecstatic that he completely forgot about his 28th birthday. "I am delighted to be in the squad - I cannot wait to get going for England again. I'd actually forgotten it was my birthday this weekend, so yeah, I guess it was an early present. I remembered it was coming up a few days ago, but then a few hours later I forgot again. I don't take my birthday that seriously," he was quoted as saying by UK's The Sun.
The Essex all-rounder's exile from the team came to an end after almost five months - Bopara has not played ODIs since September - when he was included for the Champions Trophy as well as the Natwest series. He had to fend off the likes of Samit Patel, Luke Wright and Rikki Clarke. "I was over the moon when I got the England call though - I love the fact I have an opportunity. They've shown faith in me, so I'll go out there and repay it."
England will host the Champions Trophy from June 6 when South Africa take on India whose 15-member squad was announced on Saturday. Like England's Bopara, Dinesh Karthik too celebrated his inclusion in the Indian team. "I am really happy at the moment. I was waiting for this day for sometime now. It means a lot to me," he said on his selection after a gap of three years.