Punjab pacer Passi ripped apart the Zimbabwe batting order by taking the top five wickets as the African side was reduced to 117 for five in the 32nd over while chasing 262 before being shot out for 198 in 44.1 overs at Tony Ireland Stadium here.
Zimbabwe's middle order batsman Malcolm Lake gave a scare to the Indians and tried to make a contest out of the match with a strokeful 118 from just 107 balls but it ultimately was not enough.
Lake, who hit 10 fours and five sixes in his innings, was the last man out.
The only substantial partnership for Zimbabwe was the 87 runs between Lake and Luke Jongwe (29) for the fifth wicket from 20.2 overs, which briefly took their side to the path of recovery from being reduced to 30 for four in 11.4 overs.
Apart from Lake and Jongwe, none of the other nine batsmen could reach double figures.
Passi took the first four Zimbabwe wickets during a six-over spell and returned to take two important wickets during the final 10 overs to end with figures of 6/23 from his 8.1 overs.
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Passi, who also had made a valuable contribution with his five-ball 24 in India's innings, ended the Zimbabwe run chase by claiming the wicket of Kyle Bowie.
Earlier, India piled on 261 runs for six after being put to bat with captain Unmukt Chand top-scoring with a strokeful 78. More