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India made heavy weather of its victory charge after its all-pace attack demolished Zimbabwe for just 135.

India won the match by four wickets and Zimbabwe ended its VB series campaign without a single win.

Irfan Pathan was the man-of-the-match for his four wicket haul.

Earlier, in the Zimbabwe innings, Pathan started the slide by claiming the first three wickets. Then, Amit Bhandari and Laxmipathy Balaji joined in the fun.

Heath Streak elected to bat. Zimbabwe recalled Travis Friend and Stuart Matsikenyeri for fast bowler Douglas Hondo and batsman Grant Flower, who fractured a finger in a training accident on Monday.

India rested captain Sourav Ganguly, medium pacer bowler Ajit Agarkar and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik on the pacy Perth wicket. India went into the match with four fast bowlers; Kartik's performance in the last game proving that spin is not an option on the WACA turf.

Rahul Dravid was entrusted with the captaining and wicket-keeping duties.

Zimbabwean innings

Pathan struck a double blow in the first over of the innings -- dismissing Vusimuzi Sibanda off the fourth ball; caught by V V S Laxman in the slips. Then Tatenda Taibu was gone for a first-ball duck; trapped in front of the stumps by a delivery that swung into his pads. Zimbabwe 1 for 2.

Dion Ebrahim, promoted up the order, struggled in a 22-ball stay at the wicket before being dismissed by Pathan. The left-armer, who had been getting the ball to swing back into Ebrahim, got one to leave the batsman, giving Laxman a simple catch in the slips. Zimbabwe 11 for 3.

Ashish Nehra slipped badly in his delivery stride in his first over. He has been out of cricket for a long time due to an ankle injury and there were concerned faces in the Indian camp as the left-arm paceman gingerly walked back to his bowling mark. The fall clearly unnerved him. Sean Ervine smacked him for 16 (wide, 4, 4, 0, 4, 0, 4) in his first over.

Before his injury, Nehra was the perfect partner for Zaheer Khan, but he has failed to recover his earlier form and is now reduced to bowling first change. His inability to swing the ball has time and again seen batsmen take him apart. It is clear that for the time being Pathan, Balaji and Agarkar have moved ahead of him in the pecking order.

Zimbabwe recovered through Stuart Carlisle and Ervine who put on 41 runs between the 10th and 15th overs. It seemed the Indians were starting to drift, but luck smiled on them.

In the 17th over, a bad call by Ervine led to a run-out at the non striker's end. Carlisle (28 off 46 balls) paid the price for backing up too far when Yuvraj Singh, at point, hit the stumps on the full. A vital 63-run partnership was thus brought to an end. Zimbabwe 74 for 4.

Five runs later, Ervine (23 off 32 balls) joined Carlisle in the pavilion. Bhandari had started off well and was getting good bounce from the wicket. A short ball got him his first wicket in Australia, Ervine played the hook and holed out to Kartik, substituting for Nehra, at deep fine leg. Zimbabwe 79/5.

Balaji, brought back into the attack after Nehra went off the field, dismissed Streak in text-book fashion. The Zimbabwe captain was drawn outside the off-stump and Laxman in the slips made no mistake. Zimbabwe 85 for 6.

Zimbabwe's batting has been woefully short of quality and it did not help matters when Flower was injured. One-day cricket is such a batsman-dominated game that it is hard to see Zimbabwe rise in the world order unless they quickly find batsmen to replace the void left by Andy Flower, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson.

The Indian bowlers stuck to a good line and length and let the batsmen make the mistakes. In hindsight, many of the balls they bowled might have been dealt very differently by the Australians, but all that mattered today was winning.

Pathan took 4 for 24 to record his best bowling figures in one-day cricket so far. Bhandari claimed 3 for 31 in a good display of swing bowling.

Matsikenyeri batted well to top-score with 36 as the rest of the batting crumbled around him.

Indian innings

The only way Zimbabwe would have won the match was by taking all the Indian wickets. They knew it, and so did the Indians. The Africans responded by bowling to the best of their abilities on a helpful Perth wicket. The Indians, in comparison, were strangely subdued.

Opener Virender Sehwag made his intentions clear by hitting two boundaries off the first two balls of the innings. Sachin Tendulkar, at the other end, tried to follow suit, but failed.

In the third over, a short ball from Streak took off from a length and surprised Tendulkar before grazing his shoulder and thudding into the third man boundary. The next ball pitched in the same spot, but did nothing unusual. Tendulkar attempted to smash it to the cover boundary, but edged it Taibu, who made no mistake. The great man made 3. India 28 for 1.

Sehwag's style may have its detractors but one can rest assured that while he is at the wicket runs will come at a clip. Unfortunately, he didn't last long. A ball short outside the off stump and Sehwag (23 off 22 balls) hit it to Matsikenyeri at deep backward point, just as he did in the game against Australia. India 34 for 2 at lunch, after 5.5 overs. Laxman on 1.

Dravid tried to be positive as soon as he came in, but came up short against Andy Bliganut, who was bowling his heart out and touched speeds as fast as 143 km/h.

Laxman and Dravid (bowled Bliganut 10) put on 27 runs for the third wicket.

India 61 for 3.

Once the opposition is dismissed for just 135, you are expected to go out and win with consummate ease. At least, that is the way of champion teams. They tease and toy with the opposition, but never under-estimate them. India, on the other hand, seemed to do exactly the opposite on Tuesday.

After playing with sustained brilliance throughout the tour, the Indians seem to be feeling the after-effects of playing a lot of cricket. They appear jaded and suddenly don't look the side that challenged Australia in every department of the game.

Yuvraj, who came in at the fall of Dravid's wicket, was caught by Friend on the backward square leg boundary, off Ervine for 4. The Indians were floundering at 73 for 4.

Hemang Badani joined Laxman. The left-hander struggled, took blows to the helmet and body; played and missed outside the off-stump on numerous occasions and looked lost on the quick wicket. But he persevered and survived.

The duo had put on 32 runs when Laxman was surprised by a superb bouncer, which hit him around the neck and trickled onto his stumps. The Hyderabadi held the Indian innings together with a vital 32. India 105 for 5.

Rohan Gavaskar went soon for 4 after a mix-up while running between the wickets. But Badani (34) guided India to an expected victory in 30.3 overs. India 136 for 6.

Not the ideal preparation going into the VB series finals, but a win all the same.

The form of his batsmen will definitely worry Indian coach John Wright.