Tendulkar prepares to don a different type of helmet

The trio have bat sponsorship deals with tyre manufacturers MRF, and the company plans to pit them against each other in a go-kart race in Madras on 6 July.

"Tendulkar expressed his desire to compete in a race, provided it is a level-playing field," said company spokesman Anthony Rodrigues.

The Indian batsman, Man of the Tournament at last month's World Cup with 673 runs, is shortly to undergo surgery on an injured finger in the USA after skipping a triangular one-day series in Bangladesh.

But he displayed his kart driving skills in Bombay earlier this year in front of an invited audience.

The event was was staged as a curtain-raiser for the MRF-MAI (Motorsports Association of India) Formulae Mondiale Championship.

Driving is one of Tendulkar's passions and last year Fiat named a limited edition Palio Sachin model after him.

Unusually for a wealthy Indian - he was recently listed among the top 20 richest in the country - he prefers to drive himself around rather than rely on chauffeurs, and has a fleet of cars including two luxury Mercedes and a Ferrari.

Lara is mobbed on his arrival at Madras airport

The Ferrari was a gift from Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher after the two met at last year's British Grand Prix meeting at Silverstone during the Indian team's tour to England.

So is Tendulkar considering a change of career?

"Cricket is a serious commitment, while karting is just a passion.

"You tend to get pretty serious while playing cricket, while karting is fun and you can release all the pent up pressure," he said.

Tendulkar is the world's leading one-day batsman with a record 12,219 runs and 34 centuries.

He also has 8,811 Test runs at an average of 57.58, with 31 hundreds.