Tatenda Taibu came to Zimbabwe's rescue, making 92 against Bangladesh on day three of the first Test.
The skipper fell in the penultimate over, leaving the tourists 308-8, still 180 behind on first innings.
But it still marked a massive recovery after the tourists began the day 84-4 and soon lost Hamilton Masakadza.
Taibu, who hit 13 boundaries, shared stands of 66 with Brendan Taylor (39) and 119 with Elton Chigumbura (71) to save the follow-on.
With Bangladesh sensing a first Test victory in 35 attempts, Mashrafe Mortaza struck in the third over, bowling Masakadza for 29.
But the pace bowler had to wait almost two hours for his next success, dismissing Taylor leg-before after a painstaking innings that occupied 131 balls.
Chigumbura made a valuable contribution, striking 10 boundaries and one six in his 164-ball knock before edging Mohammad Rafique behind.
And left-armer Rafique claimed his fourth wicket of the innings when Taibu was lbw, hit on the back pad in front of off stump eight short of a maiden Test century.
Mluleki Nkala had time to hit an unbeaten 20, with three boundaries in a single over from Tapash Baisya.
Taibu was annoyed at missing his first Test century.
"Obviously I am disappointed because I would love to score a 100 and to carry on the score to 150. But it was not to be," he said.
"We managed to achieve our target to avoid the follow-on. Tomorrow we'll try to add a couple of runs."
Zimbabwe coach Phil Simmons said: "I think we showed a lot of character in the way the captain and Chigumbura played today.
"It showed that there is a lot of fight in the team."
Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (captain), Khaled Mashud, Nafis Iqbal, Javed Omar, Mohammed Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammed Rafique, Enamul Haque, Tapash Baishya and Mashrafe bin Mortaza.
Zimbabwe: Tatenda Taibu (captain), Elton Chigumbura, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Barney Rogers, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor, Graeme Cremer, Christopher Mpofu, Douglas Hondo, Mluleki Nkala.
Umpires: T Wijewardena (Sri), Asad Rauf (Pkn)