A frustrated India toiled all day at Queens Sports Club here on the first day of the first Test against Zimbabwe in an unsuccessful bid to rattle through the hosts batting.
Zimbabwe ended the day on 265-7, one of their best performances in Test cricket for some time, with captain Tatenda Taibu unbeaten on 61 — his eighth half century in Tests.
They began the day after winning the toss and seemed determined to keep out India. They lost two early wickets, but there were useful partnerships and several batsmen made useful contributions.
Half centuries were made by debutant Terry Duffin with 56 and later by Taibu.
Duffin and Dion Ebrahim put on 74 for the third wicket, while Taibu and Heath Streak added 69 for the fifth.
Saurav Ganguly gave eight over spells to both Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan and the latter took two early wickets, those of Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Mazakadza.
But Harbhajan Singh went through the day without success and he is still awaiting the wicket that will take him to the 200 mark for Tests.
It fell to fellow spinner Anil Kumble to get two wickets in the lower order. But neither he nor Harbhajan were really threatening.
Zimbabwe reached the tea break with 167 for the loss of four wickets and they were not prepared to let the situation deteriorate.
The day began with Taibu winning the toss and deciding to bat.
The initial objective was for his top order batsmen to survive the first hour or so when the ball was being made by the seamers to swing around.
That policy, to keep India at bay as long as possible, and even try to bat through the day, worked through a day of defiance.
It took India a while to capture other wickets and at tea Zimbabwe were 167-4. Brendan Taylor and then Hamilton Mazakadsa had fallen to Zaheer for 27 runs between them.
But the precarious situation was initially relieved by the debutant Terry Duffin, who made his maiden half century before being out to Pathan leg before.
Taibu was beginning to run out of partners with just the fragile Zimbabwe tail for company.
Their target will be to pass through 300 and set what would be a remarkable target for first innings lead, considering their poor batting performances in recent weeks. – Sapa-AFP