Surprisingly, Lord’s has never been a happy hunting ground for Sachin Tendulkar. After all his visits here in a long, distinguished career, his highest score in 10 international innings remains the 37 he scored this summer in the Test match.

His 30 yesterday was his highest at Lord’s in one-day internationals and there was a genuine sense of disappointment around the ground when the decision that ruled him out caught behind went against him. As far as Tendulkar was concerned, “disappointment” would have to be a severe understatement.

Sadly for all of us, it meant that what is more than likely to be the maestro’s final appearance at this venue did not turn into a grand farewell.

Wandering from the field in disbelief and shaking his head, the sense of letdown came as Tendulkar looked to be in good touch again, as he has been throughout this NatWest Series.

He has looked to be in very good shape throughout India’s tour, denied hundreds by poor decisions in the Trent Bridge Test (91, given out lbw) and the one-day match at Bristol (99, adjudged caught behind), then falling again in the 90s at last week’s match at The Oval, where he at least had put his side in a position to win in a thriller.

Some people have carped about his batting this summer. The main accusation is that he has lost some of his dominance over bowlers. They pointed to his dogged approach in that Test at Trent Bridge and suggested that the young, imperious Sachin might have made more of an effort to take control.

To me such judgments are erroneous and ignorant. Eighteen months ago, when we were watching him in India, there were greater grounds to fear that the magic had left him.

He looked out of sorts then and hit something of a nadir when he was booed off by his home crowd in Bombay in the Test that England dramatically won to square the series. His feet were not moving, his body looked tired and thus began the speculation that he might even have to start thinking about calling it a day.

There has been mention in the past few days that he might retire from one-day cricket, although he has made it clear that he is entertaining no such thoughts. And why should he? He has been as dominant as anyone in this NatWest Series, and when the pressure has been on, as was the case at the start yesterday, he has looked more qualified to cope than his colleagues at the top of the order.

That innings at Trent Bridge was a fine exhibition of controlled batting from a man who realised that his team needed one thing more than anything else, and that was for him to remain at the crease. That is exactly what he did until he and, more pertinently, the umpire misjudged a ball that the batsman left alone too close to the line of off stump. That innings oozed determination. It did not deserve to be cut short when a hundred beckoned.

What was also important about that knock was that he had adapted to the conditions and needs of his team and played accordingly.

Some batsmen find it hard to change their method as the years progress. The realistic among them acknowledge that there are new ways one has to learn to make runs when one’s youthful vigour has departed.

That innings was enough to convince me that Tendulkar has it within him to continue for a while yet, even though we should not expect to see him back here in 2011, when India tour next.

His critics have also pointed to a vulnerability against the short ball. Well, let me say this: there is no batsman I have seen who has not at some stage failed to deal with the odd short ball. For some reason, as the years progress, if you get hit on the head once or look uneasy against a bouncer or two, that is deemed to be it – your eyes and reflexes have gone and the end is nigh in the minds of the critics.

Nonsense. Look at the number of times that Ricky Ponting, for my money the leading batsman in the world today, has been hit on the head - it seems to happen often enough, but the fact that he is younger allows him to escape the same criticism.

Yes, Tendulkar did take a nasty blow on the grill from James Anderson in that innings at Nottingham and was subjected to quite a barrage of short-pitched bowling, but he allowed a lot to hit him on the body, made certain that he got his hands out of the firing line and carried on making his runs.

As soon as the one-day games began, after a loosener at the Rose Bowl, where England were the dominant power, it was Tendulkar who set India back on track with his 99 at Bristol, giving the team the boost it needed.

Although England took this series in the end (with a bit of luck in dismissing Tendulkar) he proved that he is still a master of manoeuvring a cricket ball in this form of the game. That he still seems so keen to do so having played 395 matches I find extraordinary.

It says much for the way Sachin Tendulkar loves the game that he has graced for so long and that he will continue to make special for a while yet.

Hail Tendulkar

- Sachin Tendulkar, India’s greatest cricketer, surpassed his hero Sunil Gavaskar as leading century-maker in Test cricket with his 35th threefi gure score in November 2005

- The first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark, behind only Allan Border and Brian Lara

- Leading run scorer in ODI format and the only player ever to pass 15,000 runs

- Maiden Test 100 came, aged 19, in August 1990 at Old Trafford