Anil Kumble appeals for the wicket of Flower

The wicket brought in brother Grant Flower, who had reached 30 when he was run out.

Ebrahim also lost Heath Streak for a duck as Kumble finally claimed a wicket and at 260-6 and with a long tail, Zimbabwe will do well to bat until lunch on Friday.

In the first session, left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan bagged two wickets and right-armer Javagal Srinath grabbed the other.

The tourists were failing to press home the advantage of batting first on an easy-paced pitch.

Srinath provided an early breakthrough with the fourth ball of the match when he bowled Carlisle with one that came in sharply.

In-roads

Zaheer then had opener Trevor Gripper caught by Rahul Dravid at first slip for eight to reduce the tourists to 11-2.

Alistair Campbell and Flower steadied the ship to put on 54 for the third wicket before Campbell became Zaheer's second victim.

He was also snapped up by Dravid at slip.

Ebrahim, who previously had a highest score of 71 in 11 Tests - was brought into the side at the expense of Gavin Rennie.

India also made a single change to the side that won the first Test at Nagpur by an innings and 101 runs.

Batsman Virender Sehwag replaced VVS Laxman in the middle order.

India: S C Ganguly (Capt), R Dravid, S S Das, D Dasgupta (Wkt) V Sehwag, S B Bangar, S R Tendulkar, A Kumble, J Srinath Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan.

Zimbabwe: S V Carlisle (Capt), H H Streak, T R Gripper A D R Campbell, A Flower, G W Flower, D D Ebrahim, T J Friend R W Price, T Taibu (Wkt), B T Watambwa.

Umpires: A V Jayaprakash and E A R de Silva.