Bopara shocked at his omission from ODI squad

When England picked a 15-man squad to face India in ODIs, experienced campaigner, Ravi Bopara’s name was missing from the list. Bopara, on his part, said that he was shocked to know about his omission from the squad.

In fact, Bopara has been a fine performer for England in the ODIs for the last few years. He even notched up a century last week against Sri Lanka ‘A’.

Speaking to the Guardian, Bopara said, “It came as a massive shock. When you get that phone call from the selector you generally think its just to give you a heads up you’re in. But this time he told me that he is very sorry and disappointed and immediately I was shocked, thinking: This cant be happening. But it is, that’s life and I’ve just got to get on with it.”

Bopara, received the call from national selector, James Whitaker, about him being not picked for the ODI series.

“He told me: ‘Look, you know you played well for the Lions but you’re not going to be featured in this squad. That doesn’t rule you out for future tours,'” the batting all-rounder said. “He told me I’d get a call from Peter Moores to explain further and that was it.”

Bopara continued by saying, “My initial reaction was shock. I have played a lot of good cricket this season, building on my one-day player of the year award last year. I thought I was in a good place. It doesn’t add up to me.

“I could feel sorry for myself but I wont. I’ve been through a lot of highs and lows in my career, probably more than anyone, so I will come back from this.”

Bopara said that he hasn’t given up hopes of playing ICC World Cup 2015. He opined, “With the World Cup so close it makes it worse but there is a series in Sri Lanka coming up before Christmas and hopefully I can be involved.

“We haven’t won a 50-over World Cup, so the time is right and I feel its my time as well. I’m desperate to be in that side and hopefully my experience will come through and I think we need experienced players at the World Cup. Hopefully, I can provide [it] and the coach and the captain can see that.”

Bopara, summed up by saying that he is motivated to win his place back in the ODI squad. He said, “I’ve had a good season so far and I’ve got to step it up another gear. I guess not being included this time has given me more motivation than I ever thought I could have. I want to prove the selectors, the coach and the captain wrong and give them a real serious headache.”