After limiting India to 194-9 from 50 overs in an impressive bowling show at the Harare Sports Club, the host was then inspired by openers Brendan Taylor (74) and Hamilton Masakadza (66) to reach 197-3 with 11.4 overs remaining.

"I thought all the bowlers bowled really well," said Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura. "And when we batted, we knew it was just a matter of getting good partnerships, and Hami and BT batted really well." India lost by six wickets to Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last Friday.

Rarely has a Zimbabwean pair of batsmen from the current crop looked so good against an international attack, with Taylor and Masakadza putting on 128 for the first wicket as they chased a paltry target.

The aggressive Taylor was strong on the backfoot, plundering six fours and one six from 90 balls. Makakadza faced 86 balls and smashed four fours and two towering sixes off spinner Amit Mishra in the 31st over.

First to depart was man-of-the-match Taylor, who lobbed a Pragyan Ojha delivery in the 27th over to Murali Vijay, who made the catch running toward long off.

Masakadza exited 31 runs later after Virat Kohli held on to a great catch from the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.

The only other Zimbabwe wicket to fall was Charles Coventry (20), who was well caught by Yusuf Pathan off Jadeja.

But Zimbabwe was well on course by that stage, with Chigumbura (16 not out) and Tatenda Taibu (13 not out) easing the side home with plenty of overs in hand.

"They bowled well," India skipper Suresh Raina said.

"We were not getting the partnerships, especially from the new batsmen.

Raina said India's next match, against Sri Lanka on Saturday, was crucial. "We have to play well against Sri Lanka, they are a good side. I hope all goes well for us," he said.

Off-spinner Greg Lamb had earlier taken a career-best 3-45 in his 10 overs in an impressive bowling performance on an admittedly receptive wicket.

Jadeja top-scored with 51 off 72 balls, with his knock featuring three fours and two sixes.

Zimbabwe used experienced veteran bowlers Andy Blignaut and Ray Price to keep the Indian batsmen under check, hitting accurate line and length in their opening spell.

Pace bowler Blignaut tested the Indian openers with accurate, short-pitched deliveries while spinner Price gave the ball good flight.

Afterwards, Chigumbura said he persuaded coach Alan Butcher to play Blignaut instead of Chris Mpofu.

"He is a very fair coach," Chigumbura said. "Our relationship is good because we meet each halfway. I know what he wants and he knows what I want. For example, today I wanted Andy Blignaut to play and he wanted Chris Mpofu to play." Pace bowler Mpofu was eventually dropped, and his place was taken by a batsman, former captain Taibu.

Blignaut, in turn, bowled a full spell for Zimbabwe for the first time since his international cricket comeback a few months ago. He has been used mainly as a middle-order batsman who bowled a bit. But on Thursday he extracted good movement to claim 1-23 from his 10 overs.

"During practice he (Blignaut) has been bowling well and we thought if we drop Chris instead (of Blignaut) it will give us good balance because Blignaut can also bat." India's first wicket fell in the 17th over when opener Dinesh Karthik (33) tried to reverse-sweep Lamb, only to top-edge the ball to fit-again wicketkeeper Taibu.

Lamb claimed his second wicket when the other opener, Vijay (21), charged down the wicket and was stumped by Taibu.

Kohli (18) nicked behind to Taibu off Utseya, while Raina (3) succumbed to a brilliant piece of fielding by Blignaut, who ran him out directly from square leg.

Rohit Sharma, with two consecutive centuries in the series, added 13 runs before he was run out by Chigumbura's throw to bowler Graeme Cremer.

Yusuf Pathan (15) missed a straight Price delivery to be trapped leg before and Mishra (0) then failed to clear mid-on and was caught by Coventry off Cremer's bowling.

Lamb got his third wicket after Ashok Dinda (16) found Taylor in the deep.