Sachin Tendulkar lauds Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes for 'bailing England out of tricky position'

Sachin Tendulkar has come forward and lauded Dom Sibley and Ben Stokes for anchoring the English innings after they lost three wickets early on during Day 1 of the ongoing 2nd Test match at the Old Trafford in Manchester. This is a must-win contest for the hosts as they will be hoping to settle the score while the Windies will be eager to seal the three-match Test series by registering yet another win like they had done during the previous Test at Southampton last week. 

'They applied themselves very well': Sachin Tendulkar

Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, Sachin congratulated Sibley and Stokes for stitching up an important partnership to bail out England from a tricky position as they both applied themselves very well & have batted patiently to shift the balance in this Test. The Master Blaster then mentioned that it has been a great battle between bat and ball during the first session of play on Day 2.

Will England settle the scores or will West Indies seal the series?

After they were outplayed by a spirited West Indian team at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, this is a must-win match for England to stay alive in the three-match Test series as the hosts look to settle scores at the Old Trafford. England will be pumped up by the return of their regular Test skipper Joe Root who had missed the previous match as he was on paternity leave. Meanwhile, star pacers James Anderson and Mark Wood have been rested for this contest.

Windies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bowl first. The decision seemed to be spot on as Roston Chase picked up two scalps while Alzarri Joseph contributed with one wicket as the hosts were reduced to 81/3 as even skipper Joe Root (23) could not make much of an impact. Opener Dom Sibley and middle-order batsman Ben Stokes then took matters in their own hands and ensured that the visitors had no reason to celebrate any further as they added 260 runs for the fourth-wicket stand. Both notched up brilliant centuries as the hosts were eyeing a huge first-innings total. Even though Sibley was dismissed for 120, Stokes is still going strong at 172 as England are 378/5 after 139 overs during the tea break on Day 2. 

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