New Delhi: After drawing fans to cricket, Sachin Tendulkar will use his mass appeal to woo people to hockey, the country's national game that has been struggling to regain its popularity.

Tendulkar will be seen in an advertisement promoting the inaugural Premier Hockey League (PHL), to kick off on January 13 next year (2005).

The star batsman, a brand ambassador for ESPN-Star Sports, which will be telecasting the PHL matches live, would be seen testing his skills with Indian hockey stars in the ad, which will soon go an air.

The shooting of a part of the commercial featuring Tendulkar is almost over, an ESPN source said adding Indian captain Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit Singh, Viren Rasquinha, Ignace Tirkey and Arjun Halappa would also be seen in the advertisement. The hockey players, all of whom would captain different teams in PHL, would come to Delhi tomorrow (Nov 18, 2004) to complete the shoot. "We will be starting with a couple of teasers before the main commercial which we are sure will catch the imagination of people," a source said.

Besides Tendulkar, ESPN is also planning to rope in other cricketers and film stars to promote PHL, which the channel intends to "market, produce and broadcast for at least the next 10 years."