India have given Zimbabwe a reality check, winning the first one-day international by 10 wickets as seam bowler Deepak Chahar returned from a long injury layoff with a fine performance.
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Chahar took 3-27 after six months out to help bowl Zimbabwe out for 189 in 40.3 overs at Harare Sports Club on Thursday.
India openers Shubman Gill (82 not out) and Shikhar Dhawan (81 not out) then powered India to 0-192, winning with nearly 20 overs to spare.
Prasidh Krishna and spinner Axar Patel also took three wickets each for India.
But it was the 30-year-old Chahar's return to action that caught the eye.
"Every time you come back it's always important to score runs and take wickets if you can," Chahar said.
"I'm so glad that I made a good contribution today."
Zimbabwe were 5-66 as Chahar claimed three of the first four wickets to fall.
Some fight from the tail helped the home team to 189 all out, with Brad Evans (33no) and Richard Ngarava (34) putting on 70 for the ninth wicket, a record for Zimbabwe against India.
Dhawan and Gill both cracked half-centuries as a polished India side chased down their target with ease.
Dhawan became the 10th India batter to score more than 6,500 ODI runs.
The 36-year-old left-hander faced 113 balls and smashed nine fours, running well between the wickets and rotating the strike brilliantly.
"Obviously, Shikhar and Gill at the crease, we are talking of world-class batters here," said Zimbabwe bowler Richard Ngarava.
"You have to be spot on, and they really batted well today. You need to be on top of your game to get them out."
Zimbabwe had recently qualified for this year's Twenty20 World Cup and won T20 and ODI series against Bangladesh but their revival was halted by ruthless India.
The second game of the three-match ODI series is on Saturday.
Australian Associated Press
