Tendulkar's straight bat beats away the pressure

World's best batsman aims to inspire Indian tourists and become first player to score 20,000 international runs

Do not say it too loudly, but a team whose fanatical following makes the furore surrounding the England football team at the World Cup seem like a holiday romance have just slipped into London virtually unnoticed.

For the Indian cricket team, the luxury of having events in Japan and South Korea grabbing the limelight will not go unwelcomed, as seemingly no team on the planet perform under more pressure than they do.

India carry the hopes and aspirations of over a billion people and the man expected to carry them to victory on each occasion is the batsman widely regarded as the best in the world, Sachin Tendulkar.

He cuts an impressive figure. Shy, confident and quietly spoken, it is normally with the bat that he does his talking, but yesterday at Lord's he showed he can charm the media, dealing with the questions of inquisitive British journalists as though they were sending down gentle half-volleys.

For Tendulkar, though, playing and living under such a weight of expectation has become a way of life. He appears to handle the pressures of playing for India with ease, stating that: "If I allow it to get to me, it will always be there, so I just focus all my energy on what I want to achieve, and what I want to do for the team."

Away from cricket, however, life seems tougher. "It is difficult, one doesn't get enough privacy," Tendulkar said. "I can't go out with my family, play with my kids in the park and do the things a normal person can do, but it is a price I pay. I have no regrets, because I enjoy their support and adulation."

There will be no shortage of support for India here as they play the NatWest series of one-day games, starting against England at Lord's a week tomorrow, and four Test matches. There will also be plenty of incentives for Tendulkar to make his third full tour of England a memorable one.

The little maestro, who has scored 60 international hundreds in both one-day and Test cricket, needs 828 runs to become the first player to score 20,000 international runs and one more Test century, will take him past Sir Donald Bradman, who totalled 29 hundreds in his Test career. Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34 may be just out of Tendulkar's reach on this trip, but one never knows. If he takes the field at The Oval in the final Test of the series, Tendulkar will also become only the fourth Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches for his country.

Despite the team losing both their previous two tours here, they have brought personal success for Tendulkar. In 1990, as a fresh-faced 17-year-old, he gave an exciting first glimpse to the British public of the promise that lay ahead, scoring his debut Test hundred against an attack featuring yours truly at Old Trafford. In 1996 he went one better, scoring two hundreds, taking his performance in two Test series in England to a total of 673 runs at an average of 74.77.

And, if you look at his overall average of 80.13 against England, it is no wonder that the home captain, Nasser Hussain, went to such extremes in attempting to frustrate him during their tour to India before Christmas. Tendulkar feels England's approach of bowling spin or seam wide of the stumps with fielders loaded on the relevant sides is within the laws of the game and it is up to him to counter such tactics.

It must be hoped that these tactics do not spoil what should be a highly entertaining series because Tendulkar is not the only player England have to worry about. India, in the hands of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Vangipurappu Laxman, possess a batting line-up as attractive as any in the world. A chance to see such talent should not be missed.