Harare: Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the first One-Day International (ODI) of a three-match series here on Friday.
The Zimbabwe series comes after full strength India, led by their talismanic skipper MS Dhoni, lost the three-match series 1-2 in Dhaka.
With the 2011 World Cup-winning skipper rested along with six other seniors including vice-captain Virat Kohli, the batsman Ajinkya Rahane-led side will be under pressure to live upto the expectations of its legions of fans.
Among others, the performance of veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who made a comeback to the ODI squad after four years, will be keenly followed. He last played an ODI in June 2011 against the West Indies while he was last picked for T20Is in September 2012 against Australia.
The 35-year-old from Jalandhar has 259 wickets from 229 ODIs since making his debut in 1998. Harbhajan, who lost his place to Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ashwin, is be accompanied by left-arm tweaker Axar Patel. Earlier leg-spinner Karn Sharma was selected for the tour but opted out with a left middle finger injury.
The teams:
India: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Stuart Binny, Axar Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni.
Zimbabwe: Hamilton Masakadza (captain), Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Chamu Chibhabha, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Richmond Mutumbami, Graeme Cremer, Tinashe Panyangara, Brian Vitori, Donald Tiripano.
