Masakadza (11) was starting to prove dangerous when he got out to leg-spinner.
Mishra stopped Masakadza's rampage with a googly which the Zimbabwean batsman tried to slogged but failed to keep it down the ground. Masakadza missed and the ball hit the middle stump.
Meanwhile opener Sikander Raza completed his maiden half-century in 88 balls.
Earlier, Mishra had spun his magic to provide India with a much-needed breakthrough when he dismissed Zimbabwe's Vusi Sibanda.
A full-pitched ball by Mishra led to the LBW of Sibanda (34), who had painstakingly built a 72-run opening partnership with Sikander Raza and seen his team through the first 20 overs.
Suresh Raina also joined the party when he scalped the wicket of Sean Williams. Williams (15) played a poor shot off Raina's delivery and saw the ball dart through the gap between the bat and pad, straight onto the wicket.
Zimbabwean openers showed extreme restraint against a disciplined Indian bowling line-up in the first 20 overs. From the beginning, Indian pacers utilized the conditions well to exert pressure on Zimbabwe.
Pacers Vinay Kumar and Shami Ahmed were able to extract good movements with the new ball to leave the Zimbabwean batsmen struggling for runs.
However Sibanda and Raza decided to take a cautious approach towards the opposition bowlers and took their time in scoring runs.
Later debutant Indian bowler Jaydev Unadkat and Ravindra Jadeja tested the batsmen but despite good bowling spells by the bowlers, Zimbabwe denied India any wickets in the first ten overs.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bowl against Zimbabwe.
On their previous trip, a depleted Indian team, captained by Suresh Raina, lost both its matches to Zimbabwe in a tri-series which also featured Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe may not be too big a force to reckon with in international cricket but can be a handful for an under-strength team.
The Indian batting would revolve around the likes of Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. Rohit has blossomed in the opening role and would look to strengthen his position with some good knocks.
India's bowling attack has an all-new look to it with the duo of Shami Ahmed and rookie Mohit Sharma comprising the pace department, aiming to earn some brownie points for themselves. Vinay Kumar and Jaydev Unadkat are the other speedsters in the squad.
The Brendon Taylor-led Zimbabwean team, which has been training for the series for the last two months, is devoid of any major stars.
Taylor is their star in the batting department and has the best record against India in ODIs, with 184 runs at an average of 46 in four games.
Teams:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Captain), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Shami Ahmed, Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat
Zimbabwe: Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Sikandar Raza, Brendan Taylor(Captain, wicket-keeper), Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Elton Chigumbura, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Prosper Utseya, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara
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