Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis both hit knocks of 102 to help Sri Lanka post 280 in their first innings before their seamers rattled Bangladesh on the opening day of the first Test in Sylhet on Friday.
Bangladesh finished the day 32-3, trailing Sri Lanka by 248 runs, with Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha striking early in the innings for the visitors.
Fernando trapped opener Zakir Hasan (nine) and Najmul Hossain (five) lbw with identical in-swinging deliveries, while Rajitha got Mominul Haque caught for five.
Opener Mahmudul Hasan survived the day on nine alongside Taijul Islam, who was yet to open scoring.
De Silva and Mendis fought back with their 202-run stand for the fifth wicket, helping Sri Lanka recover from a precarious 57-5 after a pace demolition of their top order.
Khaled Ahmed and Nahid Rana took three wickets apiece for Bangladesh, who opted to bowl first on a green surface.
De Silva and Kamindu asserted their dominance after lunch to help Sri Lanka rebuild a respectable innings.
Kamindu reached his maiden Test century off 126 balls with a four through the covers off Rana but fell on the next ball, edging a catch to Liton Das off Rana.
Skipper de Silva was soon to follow after trying and failing to hook Rana off a short ball, following a charging innings featuring 12 fours and a six.
Khaled gave Sri Lanka an early fright after seeing off the top order, forcing opener Nishan Madushka (2) to offer a catch to Mehidy Hasan at third slip at the end of the second over.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis made 37 runs for the second wicket before Khaled struck again when Mendis knocked the pacer's delivery to Zakir Hasan at gully.
Mendis departed on 16, and Khaled bowled Karunaratne with an in-swinger in the same over for 17.
Najmul ran out Angelo Mathews for just five with a direct-hit to compound Sri Lanka's early woes.
Shoriful Islam joined the party when he removed Dinesh Chandimal for nine, with Mehidy grabbing his second catch of the morning down low at leg slip.
Sri Lanka have never lost a Test series to Bangladesh.
The second and final match of the series will be played in Chittagong from 30 March.
