Talk about grabbing one's chances! Yuvraj Singh was playing his first Test in more than 17 months, but seeing him uninhibitedly unleash his exceptional repertoire, you wouldn't have guessed it.

It was as if the change from the light blue one-day and Twenty20 colours to the traditional flannels made no difference to the left-hander's mindset. He did make the minor adjustments the longer version demands with great aplomb, but what stood out was the approach he chose to adopt.

Yuvraj is at his best when he plays his strokes. He is a naturally aggressive batsman, always on the look-out for runs. The fielding restrictions in the limited-overs format have forced him to look beyond the boundary at other scoring options, and he is consequently a more rounded, more mature and more relaxed batsman.

Playing this game only because of injuries to Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the 25-year-old perhaps felt the need to prove a point or two, as much to himself as those who have questioned his credentials as a Test match batsman. He didn't have the platform from which to explode. Walking out at 61 for four with lunch imminent can be a trying proposition for even the most battle-hardened; at the Test match level, Yuvraj is still some distance away from being a certainty, but he certainly didn't harm his cause at the Chinnaswamy stadium on an entertaining Saturday.

It wasn't merely the quantum of runs he made so much as the manner in which he got them that was at once arresting and appreciable. He didn't try to play a game alien to him. What he did was to back his instincts and his attacking abilities. The result was a third Test ton -- all against Pakistan -- in his first Test since Kingston in July 2006. Here was a man in supreme control of himself and his emotions, unfazed either by the deep hole his team had dug itself into or the step up to the Test version.

Through his incandescence that totally eclipsed a crucial second successive century by Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj has triggered a delicate selectorial conundrum for India's next Test, against Australia in Melbourne on Boxing Day. Anil Kumble will be grateful he has more than a fortnight before making a call.

Yuvraj's day of delight had been preceded by continued despair and anguish for Rahul Dravid. The Bangalorean has looked in sparkling touch all series long without going on to play one of his specials -- a truly big one. Maybe, the 34-year-old could look at his much younger team-mate, and pick up a tip or two.

Throughout this series, Dravid has looked like a man in a hurry. Whether there is a gentle shift in mindset because he was overlooked for the one-day series against Pakistan is open to debate, but it can't be denied that even at the start of his innings, Dravid has gone searching for the ball aggressively. The man who once famously spoke of enjoying leaving the ball has almost sub-consciously, and totally uncharacteristically, shifted to ball-seeking mode.

His lack of form, even if only over ten matches, rather than his inability to score quickly was what cost Dravid his one-day place. Once he gets a Test hundred, say, the flow will be back, and almost by extension, so should he in the one-day side. That Test hundred will need a good, old-fashioned dig-in-and-grind-the-attack Dravid construction, not necessarily outlandishly flamboyant but more utilitarian, with the inevitable isolated strokes of brilliance.

There is some talk of a loss of focus, a dimming of hunger. No one who watched him bat for seven and a half hours in compiling a majestic 214 against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in searing heat and extreme humidity last month will concur. Dravid is, if anything, perhaps guilty of trying too much too soon. He will sort that quickly, and come back as good as old.