If you think the Chennai Test is going to be all about soggy weather and draining spells from the spinners, here’s something else to mull over. Two leading batsmen in world cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis, might just ensure the match turns out differently.

Kallis’s Test average in India is 75.4 and, in Pakistan recently, the all-rounder made his love for sub-continent conditions more apparent by blasting three centuries and a half-century to aggregate an incredible 421 runs in two Tests.

Tendulkar, too, has been in tremendous form of late. If his century in Sydney wasn’t warning enough, a look at his record in Chennai should send a few alarm bells ringing. In 11 innings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, he has an average of 92.

In all, he has scored a total of 736 runs here with four centuries, of which three have been for a winning cause with the memorable 136 against Pakistan in 1999 the exception.

How Kallis and Tendulkar have approached the two practice sessions before the Test has been in sharp contrast. While Kallis was clearly the talisman of the side — talking to the media, mingling with the players and having long chats with his fellow batsmen — Tendulkar kept surprisingly aloof.

On the first day of practice, he took a handful of bowlers to a separate practice area and batted for close to an hour, which isn’t typical of him on the eve of a Test match.

Captain Anil Kumble talked about Tendulkar being in “fine touch”, and team sources argued why Tendulkar wasn’t asked to undergo a fitness test. “He has always maintained a very high standard of fitness. If he believes he is fine, we need to take his word,” one of them said.

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