Sachin Tendulkar during practice at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday. (AFP)

Chennai: Just over a week ago, bouquets were readied to greet Sachin Tendulkar when he made his record-rewriting 357th ODI appearance, at the Chepauk. Rain, though, ensured the maestro got past Wasim Akram at the Eden.

Now, the local admirers’ club is hoping Sachin at least gets the record of the maximum Test centuries during the first match against Sri Lanka. He drew level with Sunil Gavaskar’s 34 almost a year ago, but has only played three Tests ? all versus Pakistan ? since.

Sachin, it may be recalled, missed the two Tests in Zimbabwe as he hadn’t recovered from surgery on his left elbow. He made his Team India comeback in the ODIs against Sri Lanka, but didn’t score big after the first two matches. In fact, versus South Africa, he managed as little as 36 in four outings.

A blockbuster of an innings is, therefore, due.

Quite in keeping with character, however, Sachin isn’t letting anybody know what his own thoughts are as he nears having another (first since late March) crack at the record. On Thursday afternoon, he pleaded: “Please, no questions and answers about the record.”

At the end of last season, of course, he’d told The Telegraph: “I tend to believe special things in life have their own timing... Moreover, there’s more to my life than a 35th (century)...”

Yet, the wait for the janata has already been long and there’s the chance that the elements could again interfere with cricket here. Incidentally, it was at the Chepauk a shade under 22 years ago that Gavaskar got past Sir Don Bradman’s then record of 29 Test centuries.

Will Gavaskar himself get eclipsed here?

For the statistically inclined, Sachin has four centuries at the Chepauk, including two epics ? an unbeaten 155 against Australia in March 1998 and 136 versus Pakistan some ten months later.