Chris Woakes suffered a nasty fall at the boundary during the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, which ruled him out of the remainder of the match.
After bowling 14 overs in the first innings, Woakes tried to save a boundary and dislocated his left shoulder and looked in extreme pain.
However, when England required 17 more runs to win, the Warwickshireman showed his grit and came in to help Gus Atkinson out to get the series win against India.
With an arm in a sling and inside the jersey, he did not face any deliveries, but a few runs — England eventually fell short by 6 and the series was drawn 2-2.
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Moving ahead, the English side will next play a Test during the Ashes down under in November, and Woakes has provided an update on his potential availability.
Will Woakes be fit by the Ashes 2025/26?
At 36, the upcoming Ashes series could be one of his final big tours, and he would definitely want to board that flight to Australia.
Nonetheless, the all-rounder would not like to risk aggravating the injury by not completing the full rehabilitation and also letting his team down.
As of now, Woakes himself is unaware of the severity of the injury and whether he needs surgery for it — a surgery would mean touch-and-go ahead of the Ashes, hampering his chances.
"I'm waiting to see what the extent of the damage is, but I think the options will be to have surgery or to go down a rehab route and try and get it as strong as possible. I suppose, naturally, with that, there will be a chance of a reoccurrence, but I suppose that could be a risk that you're just willing to take, sort of thing," Woakes told BBC Sport
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"From what I've heard from physios and specialists, the rehab of a surgery option would be closer to four months or three to four months. That's obviously touching on the Ashes and Australia, so it makes it tricky," he added.
"From a rehab point of view, you can probably get it strong again within eight weeks. So that could be an option, but again, obviously, still waiting to get the full report on it," he concluded.
Although Woakes did not have much of an impact during the India series, he could be pretty handy on the lively tracks of Perth and the Gabba, in particular, in the first two Tests.
In the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, he picked 11 wickets in 9 innings, including the best figures of 3.84.
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Previously in Australia, he has picked 16 wickets in 7 matches and has the best figures of 4/36.
Although England could have Mark Wood returning to the roster consisting of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, etc., they would like Woakes to be available as one of the senior pros.