By Ravi Bopara Essex and England all-rounder

The biggest difference between batting in Twenty20 and the one-day game is up front.

In one-day cricket you have to start sensibly and the aim is for someone to try and bat through, with some support along the way.

In Twenty20 it is vital you go hard in the first six overs.

You have to make the most of your overs - after all you have 10 wickets to play with.

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You need two aggressors up front, it is helpful if they can bat through the innings but it is unlikely in that form of cricket.

It is more usual to have several players chipping in with quickfire 20s and 30s.

No matter what number you bat you do not have time to get your eye in - you have to go out there and score from ball one.

One thing you cannot afford are dot balls, you need to keep scoring off every ball, rotate the strike and look for the odd boundary.

If you can aim to get one boundary and four or five singles then you are up there at around eight or nine an over - which is a good score in Twenty20.

I look to target a certain bowler who I think I can get three or four boundaries off his over.

RAVI BOPARA PROFILE Born 4 May 1985 He is nicknamed Puppy by his team-mates and owns a rottweiler called Gotti Has a top score of 83 in Twenty20, which came off just 46 balls Will miss the ICC World Twenty20 tournament with a broken thumb

Before the over I make a conscious decision to go big and try to get 15 or 20, which can take a lot of pressure off and really boost your run-rate.

You do have to play premeditated shots in this form because bowlers are very smart and will try to out-think you.

I will decide before the ball is bowled what kind of shot I am looking to play.

If it is there to hit I will try and put it away for a six or a four, but if not I will look to pick up at least a single.

In general you do not target the good bowlers like a Mushtaq Ahmed or Darren Gough, but look to make your big runs off the third or fourth bowler in the rotation.

You go after the guys with lesser skills, who are less likely to put in a yorker.

This is particularly important in the middle period of the innings when the fielders are back and you have to beat the boundaries.

Against the good bowlers you look to rotate the strike and pick off the odd boundary - the calculated risk where if you get it out the middle of the bat it might go for four.

Otherwise I tend to look to try and chip it into the gaps for ones and twos.

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In one-day games it takes a period of five to 10 overs to make an impact in the game - in Twenty20 the game can swing in one of two overs.

It can become a bit of a lottery, but you have to keep it simple and just go for it.

There is a buzz about Twenty20 and the key is not to get caught up in it.

You try to soak up the atmosphere while making sure it does not take your focus off the game.

You have to concentrate on what you are doing and try and block everything else out.

Mentally it can drain you because you are constantly thinking, both when batting and bowling.

But it is an explosive game that is so exciting to be a part of.