London, Sep 10(ANI): England Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad has backed beleaguered all rounder Ravi Bopara to prove his worth, tipping him to play an important role with his bowling during the T20 World Cup on the spin-friendly pitches of Sri Lanka.

Bopara's miserable run of form continued when he was out for another single-figure score as England lost the first T20 to South Africa in Durham on Saturday by seven wickets.

But Broad insisted he retains faith in Bopara's skills and sees him as a key player in Sri Lanka.

"Ravi has struggled in the last couple of weeks, but he's working very hard on putting that right. You know as a batsman you can be one shot away from something clicking and finding yourself back in form and T20 is the perfect format for that,' the Daily Express quoted Broad, as saying.

"In this game you can play with a bit of licence and let that freedom come back to your game. Ravi is simply way short of his best in recent times, but a succession of his team-mates have got out to poor shots, or poor judgment," he added.

"We hope Ravi can get back to his best because he'll be an important player for us in Sri Lanka - not just with the bat. His bowling will be useful on those sort of wickets," he said. (ANI)