diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
index 3eddb33788a..990f6fbb48e 100644
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
@@ -61,11 +61,14 @@ namespace Grpc.Microbenchmarks
             var native = NativeMethods.Get();
 
             // nop the native-call via reflection
-            NativeMethods.Delegates.grpcsharp_call_send_status_from_server_delegate nop = (CallSafeHandle call, BatchContextSafeHandle ctx, StatusCode statusCode, byte[] statusMessage, UIntPtr statusMessageLen, MetadataArraySafeHandle metadataArray, int sendEmptyInitialMetadata, byte[] optionalSendBuffer, UIntPtr optionalSendBufferLen, WriteFlags writeFlags) => {
-                completionRegistry.Extract(ctx.Handle).OnComplete(true); // drain the dictionary as we go
-                return CallError.OK;
-            };
-            native.GetType().GetField(nameof(native.grpcsharp_call_send_status_from_server)).SetValue(native, nop);
+            unsafe
+            {
+                NativeMethods.Delegates.grpcsharp_call_send_status_from_server_delegate nop = (CallSafeHandle call, BatchContextSafeHandle ctx, StatusCode statusCode, byte* statusMessage, UIntPtr statusMessageLen, MetadataArraySafeHandle metadataArray, int sendEmptyInitialMetadata, byte[] optionalSendBuffer, UIntPtr optionalSendBufferLen, WriteFlags writeFlags) => {
+                    completionRegistry.Extract(ctx.Handle).OnComplete(true); // drain the dictionary as we go
+                    return CallError.OK;
+                };
+                native.GetType().GetField(nameof(native.grpcsharp_call_send_status_from_server)).SetValue(native, nop);
+            }
 
             environment = GrpcEnvironment.AddRef();
             metadata = MetadataArraySafeHandle.Create(Metadata.Empty);