India captain KL Rahul won the toss and chose to bowl on Thursday in the first of three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe in Harare.
"There is a little bit of moisture and we do not know what to expect since it is an early start," said Rahul.
Zimbabwe skipper Regis Chakabva, deputising for injured Craig Ervine, said: "We would have loved to bowl first."
The hosts are on a roll, winning nine of 11 ODI and Twenty20 internationals since Dave Houghton became coach in June after 3-0 whitewashes by Afghanistan in both white-ball formats.
But after qualifying for the T20I World Cup by beating five non-Test opponents and winning ODI and T20I series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe face a much tougher test against India.
India are third in the ODI rankings, 10 places above Zimbabwe, and favourites to win all three matches despite the absence of some stars, including star batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Squads
Zimbabwe: Tadiwanashe Marumani, Innocent Kaia, Sean Williams, Wessly Madhevere, Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva (capt/wkt), Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Bradley Evans, Victor Nyauchi and Richard Ngarava.
India: KL Rahul (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson (wkt), Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj.
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock (RSA), Langton Rusere (ZIM)
TV umpire: Iknow Chabi (ZIM)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)