diff --git a/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/schema.go b/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/schema.go
index 6a9f3981c4..8abe8bd0b9 100644
--- a/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/schema.go
+++ b/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command/schema.go
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ func init() {
 	ApplySchema.Flags().DurationVar(&applySchemaOptions.WaitReplicasTimeout, "wait-replicas-timeout", wrangler.DefaultWaitReplicasTimeout, "Amount of time to wait for replicas to receive the schema change via replication.")
 	ApplySchema.Flags().BoolVar(&applySchemaOptions.SkipPreflight, "skip-preflight", false, "Skip pre-apply schema checks, and directly forward schema change query to shards.")
 	ApplySchema.Flags().StringVar(&applySchemaOptions.CallerID, "caller-id", "", "Effective caller ID used for the operation and should map to an ACL name which grants this identity the necessary permissions to perform the operation (this is only necessary when strict table ACLs are used).")
-	ApplySchema.Flags().StringSliceVar(&applySchemaOptions.SQL, "sql", nil, "Semicolon-delimited, repeatable SQL commands to apply. Exactly one of --sql|--sql-file is required.")
+	ApplySchema.Flags().StringArrayVar(&applySchemaOptions.SQL, "sql", nil, "Semicolon-delimited, repeatable SQL commands to apply. Exactly one of --sql|--sql-file is required.")
 	ApplySchema.Flags().StringVar(&applySchemaOptions.SQLFile, "sql-file", "", "Path to a file containing semicolon-delimited SQL commands to apply. Exactly one of --sql|--sql-file is required.")
 
 	Root.AddCommand(ApplySchema)
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vtctldclient/cli_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vtctldclient/cli_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82dbc6658a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vtctldclient/cli_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2022 The Vitess Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+	http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package vtctldclient
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
+
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/cmd/vtctldclient/command"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/protoutil"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtctl/localvtctldclient"
+
+	vtctldatapb "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/vtctldata"
+	vtctlservicepb "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/vtctlservice"
+)
+
+type fakeServer struct {
+	vtctlservicepb.UnimplementedVtctldServer
+	t testing.TB
+
+	applySchemaRequests []*vtctldatapb.ApplySchemaRequest
+}
+
+func (s *fakeServer) ApplySchema(ctx context.Context, req *vtctldatapb.ApplySchemaRequest) (*vtctldatapb.ApplySchemaResponse, error) {
+	s.applySchemaRequests = append(s.applySchemaRequests, req)
+	return &vtctldatapb.ApplySchemaResponse{}, nil
+}
+
+func TestApplySchema(t *testing.T) {
+	server := &fakeServer{t: t}
+
+	command.VtctldClientProtocol = "local"
+	localvtctldclient.SetServer(server)
+
+	defer func(argv []string) {
+		os.Args = argv
+	}(append([]string{}, os.Args...))
+
+	os.Args = []string{
+		"vtctldclient",
+		"--server='doesnotmatter'",
+		"ApplySchema",
+		"--sql",
+		`"CREATE TABLE foo(id int not null primary key, name varchar(255)); CREATE TABLE bar (id int not null primary key, foo_id int not null);`,
+		"test",
+	}
+
+	require.NoError(t, command.Root.Execute())
+	expected := &vtctldatapb.ApplySchemaRequest{
+		Keyspace: "test",
+		Sql: []string{
+			`"CREATE TABLE foo(id int not null primary key, name varchar(255)); CREATE TABLE bar (id int not null primary key, foo_id int not null);`,
+		},
+		DdlStrategy:         "direct",
+		WaitReplicasTimeout: protoutil.DurationToProto(10 * time.Second),
+	}
+	actual := server.applySchemaRequests[0]
+	assert.True(t, proto.Equal(actual, expected), "ApplySchema received unexpected request (got %v want %v)", actual, expected)
+}