While SA will be proud about denying Tendulkar a home test ton against them, the fact that he has scored six hundreds in his last 11 tests will nullify their confidence

Big gun Tendulkar all set to fire

Whileu00a0SA will be proud about denying Tendulkar a home test ton against them, the fact that he has scored six hundreds in his last 11 tests will nullify their confidence

Sachin Tendulkar may feel like old times heading into the first Test against South Africa which starts here today. For most part of the 1990s, during the mid-phase of his illustrious career, the opponents would openly say, 'get Tendulkar, get India.' Chillingly for India, the situation is once again the same in their opening game of the crucial series against South Africa.

Sachin's six pack

With injuries to senior batsmen Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, the home team's middle-order has been left vulnerable.

The talk in the lead-up to the series has been focused on the battle between Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and the SA pace attack. But, SA spearhead Dale Steyn was quick to remind everyone of the threat posed by Tendulkar to his team. "Sehwag is a challenge, but I am not going to single out Sehwag because Tendulkar is also a marvelous player and he has shown what a record he has got," said Steyn.

The South Africans are aware that Tendulkar's wicket could be the game-breaker in this Test. Even if India get off to a solid start, someone will need to hold the middle-order together.u00a0 Tendulkar becomes a more critical factor as VVS Laxman is coming back from a hand injury and is short of practice. The other certainties in the batting line-up are two relative greenhorns. Subramaniam Badrinath is untested at the international level and Murali Vijay is just three Tests old. If Laxman fails to make it and Rohit Sharma plays then there will be three rookies in India's ranks.

Tendulkar's overall Test average against the Proteas is 35.35. At home against SA, it is even lower -u00a0 28.23 with 97 being his highest score. But Steyn and Co run into a Tendulkar, who is in prime from. Since the last Test in Nagpur (November 2008), Tendulkar has scored six hundreds in 11 Tests, a stat South Africa could worry about.

Tendulkar may have to curb his natural game to assume larger responsibility of shepherding the youngsters. "Dravid's absence is an advantage for us. It puts more pressure on India's senior batsmen as they have to bat with more responsibility as the guy with 10,000 runs is not there at No 3 for them," said SA skipper Graeme Smith.

"If Laxman does not play, they will lose a lot of experience. We have our gameplans in place now it's how we implement them," added Smith. Ajit Wadekar, India's manager from 1992 to 1996 when the Indian batting revolved completely around Tendulkar, said the Mumbai batsman can be trusted to deliver. "Tendulkar has been the biggest factor in the Indian batting line-up ever since he started playing international cricket. He is in great nick at the moment and knows what his job is. He will adjust according to the challenge," said Wadekar, who is here to watch the first Test.