Ben Stokes injury a big concern for England ahead of Champions Trophy

While bowling in a league game against Mumbai Indians, Stokes injured his shoulder in the very first over he bowled. The 25-year-old, however, completed his full quota of overs finishing with figures of 2/21 and gave away just seven runs in the penultimate over of the match to setup a 3-run win for the Rising Pune Supergiant.

After the game, it was revealed that the Englishman had a grade-one muscle tear in his right shoulders. The injury resulted in him missing the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders and today's fixture against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Stokes is expected to miss the clash against Gujarat Lions as well and the English medical support staff, according to cricket.com.au, are "anxiously monitoring his progress with the Indian club". 

England will host the Champions Trophy, starting June 1, and Stokes was expected to play a big part in their campaign. As a warm-up for the tournament, England are also scheduled to play Ireland and South Africa in bilateral ODI series.

Stokes joined the Supergiant, after the Pune based club paid a staggering Rs. 14.5 crores (GBP 1.7m) in the IPL auction this season. England might ask Pune to use him only as a batsman in order to protect him from aggravating the injury.