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Suresh Perera struck two early blows removing the new opening combination of Amay Khurasiya and Yuvraj Singh. Khurasiya (12) struggled against some quality fast bowling and was trapped right in front of the stumps after he had shuffled across the line. Yuvraj (12) gave an easy catch to Muralitharan at short fine leg. Harbhajan Singh was sent in as a pinch-hitter and ended up wasting himself, lobbing an easy catch off the bowling of Vaas; he made just a single. VVS Laxman (17) fell to the sheer pace of Fernando, being caught behind. It was left to Ganguly to play the sheet anchor, as he went on to make 69 off 105 balls. Not a convincing effort, but it was good to make him the top-scorer.