'Puppy' grows up to be a cricket 星／主役にする for England

England's newest cricket 星／主役にする told today how his worried mother took him to the doctor as a child because she 恐れるd he was becoming 危険に overweight.

But east London schoolboy Ravi Singh Bopara, 21, lost the "puppy fat", joined Essex and has now become the youngest member of England's World Cup cricket squad. "I used to be chubby when I was younger," said Ravi. "I got 愛称d

'puppy' because of it and because I played cricket with 20-year-olds when I was 13 - and the 指名する has stuck."

His mother, Baldish, 43, said: "He didn't eat junk food. He just had a big appetite. But when the doctors saw him they said there was nothing to worry about. Now he has his own special diet with not as many curries."

The young all-rounder is now 準備するing for the tournament in the West Indies next month where he will line up against his boyhood hero, India's Sachin Tendulkar.

兵器庫 fan Bopara, who still lives at home in Manor Park with his mother, father Charanjit, 49, and older brother Etinder, 24, said he hoped to follow in the footsteps of team-mate and fellow Sikh British-Asian, Monty Panesar.

He said: "It's a 広大な／多数の／重要な feeling to know I'm going. I watched the last World Cup with my dad and brother on the sofa. I didn't think I would be going this time, but I feel 用意が出来ている and I honestly can't wait to get out there.

"You have to learn quick when you play with the 上級の team. But I have friends like Saj Mahmood and Michael Vaughan has taken me under his wing. I don't really get nervous."

Bopara's parents told how the youngster who " lived and breathed cricket" had to be called in from the streets outside the newsagents shop they ran in East Ham, where he would play every evening after finishing lessons at Brampton Manor School.

Mrs Bopara, who now 作品 as a 監督者 at London City Airport, said: "He used to get up at 6am and do a paper-一連の会議、交渉／完成する every morning before school. I would always make sure he got good home-cooked Indian food. He just had a big appetite."

Cricket-mad father Mr Bopara, who 作品 for a catering company, said: "Ravi seems to be a bigger 星／主役にする in India than he is here. He was all over the TV news there. They even managed to 跡をつける my father 負かす／撃墜する to a small village in Punjab."

Ravi told how he had been inundated with calls from friends in the UK and family in India.

His grandfather, Gurdev Singh Bopara, who emigrated to Britain in the Sixties to work at the Ford 工場／植物 in Essex, also played a 決定的な part in his cricketing career as he would フェリー（で運ぶ） him and his brother Etinder to after-school matches when his parents were busy working.

Bopara said: "I 借りがある a lot to my parents. They kept me on the 権利 path when there were 誘惑s to get into trouble.

Most importantly they gave me the freedom to 追求する cricket. I knew a lot of talented Asian kids who weren't given the support or 押し進めるd into education.

"I know Monty has become a rolemodel and I would like to do the same. I just want to be seen as an England player. I feel honoured every time I 代表する my country."