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Left-arm spinner Saifullah Khan returned with a five-wicket haul to help favourites Biman take a handsome first innings lead over Jessore in the 25th National Cricket Championship final at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

On the penultimate day of the four-day match, Jessore, who began the day with 66 for two in reply to Biman's first innings of 270 for eight, were shot out for a meagre 177 in 83.1 overs in the face of some brilliant spin from Saifullah, which gave Biman a 93-run first innings lead.

If the match fails to produce any outright result on the final day today, Biman will take home the trophy by virtue of that lead. Saifullah, who conceded 64 runs for his five wickets in 29 overs, which included eight maidens, was ably helped by two off-spinners, Ziaur Rashid and Shariful Haque, who had a crack at the other five wickets.

Ziaur captured three wickets for 31 runs in his 12 overs while Shariful gave away 41 runs for his two in 26.1 overs.

Opener Imran Tushar was the lone man who fought the apparently losing battle with a marathon 155-ball 51 that included no boundaries. Imran apart, middle-order Raju Parvez scored 34 off 99 balls for Jessore.

At stumps, the national airliner scored 78 for three in 35 overs taking their overall lead to 171 runs with a day and seven wickets in hand.

Middle-orders Halim Shah and Atiar Rahman was batting on 29 and 16. Opener Rafiqul scored a quick-fire 23 off 27 balls before he was bowled by Jessore's new-ball bowler Babu who took all the three Biman wickets in the second innings conceding 29 runs in 16 overs.