India got off to a good start with Jaydev Unadkat and Mohit Sharma struck in quick succession to dismiss Zimbabwe batsmen Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor respectively.
Unadkat gave India a first breakthrough when Sibanda tried to cut off the back foot but got a thin top edge that went straight to Dinesh Karthik gloves.
Skipper Taylor's misery continued as failed to open the account third time in the series. Taylor went onto the front foot for a drive but only managed to get a fat outside edge which was taken by Suresh Raina at second slip.
Shami Ahmed added Zimbabwe woes by dismissing Timycen Maruma in his first over to leave the hosts reeling at 37/3 in 12.2 overs.
Earlier, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and again elected to bowl against the hosts.
India made two changes as Shikhar Dhawan came back into the team in place of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane has been given the first game of the series as he replaced Ambati Rayudu.
Jammu and Kashmir all rounder Parvez Rasool misses out again and is the only player in the side to not have played even a single game.
Zimbabwe made four changes with Kyle Jarvis, Timycen Maruma, Natsai M'shangwe and Tinotenda Mutombodzi replacing Prosper Utseya, Sikandar Raza, Michael Chinouya and Tendai Chatara.
Led well by an in-form Kohli, India have outclassed the hapless Zimbabweans in every department of the game and it would take a momentous effort from the hosts to get at least one win.
At the start of the series, Zimbabwe's coach, Andy Waller, had hoped of surprising India at least once in the series but that moment is unlikely to come even on Saturday given the way the visitors have dominated so far.
In fact, the Indians have felt more at home with the conditions than the home team, which has failed to fire even once as a unit.
Aside from a bright spark here or a fighting effort there, Zimbabwe's performance has been expectedly sub-standard against India, a team which was missing some of its key players.
In the fourth match on Thursday, which the Indians won by nine wickets, a couple of ODI debuts were handed out with pacer Mohit Sharma instantly making an impression.
Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shami Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma.
Zimbabwe: Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor (capt), Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Timycen Maruma, Elton Chigumbura, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Natsai Mushangwe, Brian Vitori, Kyle Jarvis
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