diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
index 92e50f7a476f3..e7451e4f3e328 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
@@ -201,7 +201,8 @@ protected Request routedBasedOnClusterVersion(long routedBasedOnClusterVersion)
         return (Request) this;
     }
 
-    long routedBasedOnClusterVersion() {
+    // visible for testing
+    public long routedBasedOnClusterVersion() {
         return routedBasedOnClusterVersion;
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequestTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequestTests.java
index 05c946e73f94d..38dc2bf414ff2 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequestTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/action/bulk/BulkShardRequestTests.java
@@ -32,10 +32,17 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.action.bulk;
 
+import org.opensearch.action.DocWriteRequest;
+import org.opensearch.action.delete.DeleteRequest;
+import org.opensearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
 import org.opensearch.action.support.WriteRequest.RefreshPolicy;
+import org.opensearch.action.update.UpdateRequest;
+import org.opensearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
 import org.opensearch.core.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.opensearch.test.OpenSearchTestCase;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 import static org.apache.lucene.tests.util.TestUtil.randomSimpleString;
 
 public class BulkShardRequestTests extends OpenSearchTestCase {
@@ -55,4 +62,73 @@ public void testToString() {
         assertEquals("BulkShardRequest [" + shardId + "] containing [" + count + "] requests blocking until refresh", r.toString());
         assertEquals("requests[" + count + "], index[" + index + "][0], refresh[WAIT_UNTIL]", r.getDescription());
     }
+
+    public void testBulkShardRequestSerialization() throws IOException {
+        final String index = randomSimpleString(random(), 10);
+        final int count = between(2, 100);
+        final ShardId shardId = new ShardId(index, "ignored", 0);
+        final RefreshPolicy refreshPolicy = randomFrom(RefreshPolicy.values());
+        final BulkShardRequest expected = new BulkShardRequest(shardId, refreshPolicy, generateBulkItemRequests(count));
+
+        final BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput();
+
+        expected.writeTo(out);
+
+        final BulkShardRequest actual = new BulkShardRequest(out.bytes().streamInput());
+
+        assertEquals(expected.getParentTask().getId(), actual.getParentTask().getId());
+        assertEquals(expected.getParentTask().getNodeId(), actual.getParentTask().getNodeId());
+
+        assertEquals(expected.shardId(), actual.shardId());
+        assertEquals(expected.waitForActiveShards(), actual.waitForActiveShards());
+        assertEquals(expected.timeout(), actual.timeout());
+        assertEquals(expected.index(), actual.index());
+        assertEquals(expected.routedBasedOnClusterVersion(), actual.routedBasedOnClusterVersion());
+
+        assertEquals(expected.getRefreshPolicy(), actual.getRefreshPolicy());
+
+        assertEquals(expected.items().length, actual.items().length);
+        for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i) {
+            final BulkItemRequest expectedItem = expected.items()[i];
+            final BulkItemRequest actualItem = actual.items()[i];
+            if (null == expectedItem) {
+                assertNull(actualItem);
+                continue;
+            }
+            assertEquals(expectedItem.id(), actualItem.id());
+            assertEquals(expectedItem.request().id(), actualItem.request().id());
+            assertEquals(expectedItem.request().index(), actualItem.request().index());
+            assertEquals(expectedItem.request().opType(), actualItem.request().opType());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private BulkItemRequest[] generateBulkItemRequests(final int count) {
+        final BulkItemRequest[] items = new BulkItemRequest[count];
+        final int nullIdx = randomIntBetween(0, count - 1);
+        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+            if (i == nullIdx) {
+                items[i] = null;
+                continue;
+            }
+            final DocWriteRequest<?> request;
+            switch (randomFrom(DocWriteRequest.OpType.values())) {
+                case INDEX:
+                    request = new IndexRequest("index").id("id_" + i);
+                    break;
+                case CREATE:
+                    request = new IndexRequest("index").id("id_" + i).create(true);
+                    break;
+                case UPDATE:
+                    request = new UpdateRequest("index", "id_" + i);
+                    break;
+                case DELETE:
+                    request = new DeleteRequest("index", "id_" + i);
+                    break;
+                default:
+                    throw new AssertionError("unknown type");
+            }
+            items[i] = new BulkItemRequest(i, request);
+        }
+        return items;
+    }
 }