Virender Sehwag in action at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. (AFP)

Adelaide: Sachin Tendulkar cracked his 39th Test century on Thursday to put his side in a strong position on Day I of the fourth and final Test against Australia.

The diminutive Sachin, playing possibly his last Test on Australian soil, produced a vintage display to score an unbeaten 124 and help the tourists reach 309 for five at stumps at the Adelaide Oval. Keeping him company at the close was Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 6.

This was Sachin’s second century of the series after an an unbeaten 154 in the acrimonious Sydney Test.

He gave a stunning exhibition of stroke play on Thursday to pull the team out of the pits after the visitors had been reduced to 156 for four at one stage.

Opener Virender Sehwag (63) and middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman (51) also posted half-centuries as the Indians carefully set about building an imposing total on a flat pitch tailor-made for high scoring.

The Indians were in a spot of bother with Sehwag, makeshift opener Irfan Pathan (9), Rahul Dravid (18) and Sourav Ganguly (7) back in the pavilion.

Sachin and Laxman, however, salvaged the situation with a 126-run fifth wicket partnership.

The visitors, eager to level the four-match series, opted to go in with a five-pronged bowling attack by dropping struggling opener Wasim Jaffer and bringing back spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Sachin has spent 281 minutes at the crease so far and has hit 10 fours and three sixes off 172 balls.

He came in to bat just before lunch and stayed put, providing the glue that India sorely needed after their other batsmen failed to come to the party.

Sachin showed his intent after lunch by thumping Brett Lee down the ground and smacking Mitchell Johnson for three fours in one over.

He also went after Brad Hogg and repeatedly came down the track to hit him into the far corners of the ground, including a slog-sweep for a six over midwicket.

The master batsman completed his half-century, which included five fours, with a clip to the onside off 77 balls.

Unfortunately, Sachin did not receive much support from the other end for most of the day except from Laxman.

The Hyderabadi batted well but did not make the most of a reprieve when he was let off on 37 by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist off Lee.

Sachin slammed left-arm spinner Michael Clarke for a six and a four off successive balls to complete his century in style in the final session.