The visitors were held back significantly by a middle-order collapse after winning the toss and batting first.
Half-century from opener Prince Masvaure, skipper Craig Ervine's brilliant hundred weren't enough for Zimbabwe to feel fully satisfied by the end of Day 1 as Bangladesh off-spinner Nayeem Hasan held the visitors back with a four-fer in Dhaka Test.
Masvaure played a solid knock of 64 and Ervine went on to make his career's third Test ton (107) after the tourists lost Masvaure's opening partner Kevin Kasuza (2) very early; the duo put on a fantastic second-wicket partnership of 111 runs.
But a middle-order collapse born out of Hasan's spell of 4/68 didn't allow the Zimbabweans to take the game away from the opponent after winning the toss and batting first on a surface famous for rapid deterioration, offering significant turn to the spinners.
Brendan Taylor (10) and Sikandar Raza (18) fell cheaply, leaving the team's lower-order with a huge task to try and post a score on the board that shall allow the visitors to put the home team under pressure.
Apart from Hasan, pacer Abu Jayed (2/51) also bowled very well. But Ebadot Hossain (0/26) and Taijul Islam (0/75) went wicketless.
Brief Scores:
Zimbabwe 228/6 in 90 overs (Craig Ervine 107, Prince Masvaure 64; Nayeem Hasan 4/68, Abu Jayed 2/51) versus Bangladesh until stumps on Day 1.