Ganguly steadied the Indian innings with a watchful knock

India's left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan left Zimbabwe facing a heavy defeat as they ended day three of the first Test on 67-6 in their second innings.

Pathan, who took 5-58 in the first innings, added 4-24 on Thursday, after India had been bowled out for 554.

It all means the hosts are still 208 runs behind and look likely to lose by an innings at some point on day four.

Earlier, India skipper Sourav Ganguly collected his 12th Test century and went past 5,000 Test runs.

Ganguly, who earlier put on 97 for the seventh wicket with Pathan (52), was caught off Gavin Ewing after a 262-ball knock that included 10 fours and earned him 101 runs.

The visitors, 325-3 overnight, added just 71 runs in the first session with VVS Laxman going early for 140.

Irfan Pathan can still add to his nine wickets in the match

Laxman pushed Andy Blignaut's fourth ball of the day to wide mid-on and set off for the single, only to discover Ganguly had returned to the non-striker's end.

Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik then fell cheaply in the space of 10 balls.

Spinner Keith Dabengwa, playing his second Test match, bowled Yuvraj for 12 before keeper Karthik was caught behind off the bowling of Blignaut for one.

The Ganguly-Pathan partnership allowed India to re-assert their dominance and Harbhajan Singh then came in to thrash 37 off just 18 balls.

Blessing Mahwire was the pick of Zimbabwe's bowlers, finishing with 4-92.

Zimbabwe's second innings was a total shambles, as Pathan removed four of the top six for single-figure scores to leave the hosts 18-5 in the ninth over.

Belatedly, Tatenda Taibu and Charles Coventry put together a partnership of 49 with some hard hitting.

But India had the last laugh of the day when Harbhajan claimed his 200th Test wicket, Coventry turning a ball straight to short leg.