Playing test match itself a pride and Zimbabwe attainted the status so they deserved to play as long as it needs. And yeah it looks pretty absurd to watch but for the Zimbabwe's perspective they should be happy with more game time and it also comes with a top team and that's how they can gain experience and progress to the next level.
Getting wrecked again and again against top teams is a matter of pride? Really? Smh! Anyone thinking that teams like Zimbabwe will gain experience and progress to the next level through these matchups are deluding themselves.
The biggest pro of these kinds of matches is that the higher ranked teams get some much needed training against weaker teams period.
Playing test itself a pride in my opinion because associate nations need to be promoted to full member to be eligible for test and it gain expereince is subjective. Back in the India used to be a good team but not a dominating one like now which happened due to the IPL that gave the expereince for Indians to play with all the top players that helped them to shape into what we see today so it's not a complete waste unless as a neutral viewer.
There can be Tier system, top 5 teams will play against each other and the rest will play against each other in their respective tier can be a solution.