diff --git a/test/core/end2end/fuzzers/api_fuzzer.c b/test/core/end2end/fuzzers/api_fuzzer.c
index 023fbed8b4cecd98e734c8fdc320e2e1e54fd127..e5b81e358beefc2cc03ff7550158091b874ae11e 100644
--- a/test/core/end2end/fuzzers/api_fuzzer.c
+++ b/test/core/end2end/fuzzers/api_fuzzer.c
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ int LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput(const uint8_t *data, size_t size) {
                             &op->data.send_initial_metadata.metadata);
               break;
             case GRPC_OP_SEND_MESSAGE:
-              op->op = GRPC_OP_SEND_INITIAL_METADATA;
+              op->op = GRPC_OP_SEND_MESSAGE;
               op->data.send_message = read_message(&inp);
               break;
             case GRPC_OP_SEND_CLOSE_FROM_CLIENT: