Ishant Sharma dismissed Michael Clarke but had to return to the dressing room with a swollen middle finger © Getty Images

India suffered a setback when Ishant Sharma injured his finger during the Australian innings at the SCG. Ishant, who has been India's bowler of the summer, had a swollen middle finger on his bowling hand and had to go back to the dressing room as India checked Australia's progress.

He was then taken to a doctor for an x-ray. "Ishant has developed [a collection of] fluid in his middle finger. The X-rays came out okay", Bimal Soni, the manager of the Indian team, told Cricinfo. "We will assess his position only on Tuesday morning."

The injury occurred when Ishant was finishing his last over of his first spell when he suddenly felt some pain in the middle finger of his right hand and he was seen shaking his hand vigorously. Ishant went on to finish the over and his figures read 5-0-19-1 with the wicket of Michael Clarke.

Despite India gaining the upper hand with Australia reeling at 3 for 24, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds fought back with a 100-run stand and Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to recall his strike bowler to stop the onslaught. Ishant bowled another three overs for 13 runs without any wickets.

India will hope the injury is not serious considering how valuable he has proved throughout the tour of Australia. Ishant is India's most successful bowler in the CB Series with 14 wickets to date in nine games, and third in the overall list, behind Nathan Bracken and Brett Lee. Meanwhile, Ishant's stock had gone upwards since he was signed for a staggering US$950,000 by the Kolkata-based franchise of the Indian Premier League, making him the most expensive bowler in the tournament.