diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/ManyShardsIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/ManyShardsIT.java
index 08d59eade600e..27541aac3794b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/ManyShardsIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/action/ManyShardsIT.java
@@ -45,9 +45,11 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.allOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThan;
 
 /**
  * Make sures that we can run many concurrent requests with large number of shards with any data_partitioning.
@@ -264,7 +266,7 @@ public void testLimitConcurrentShards() {
     public void testCancelUnnecessaryRequests() {
         assumeTrue("Requires pragmas", canUseQueryPragmas());
         internalCluster().ensureAtLeastNumDataNodes(3);
-
+        var dataNodes = internalCluster().numDataNodes();
         var coordinatingNode = internalCluster().getNodeNames()[0];
 
         var exchanges = new AtomicInteger(0);
@@ -281,9 +283,9 @@ public void testCancelUnnecessaryRequests() {
         query.query("from test-* | LIMIT 1");
         query.pragmas(new QueryPragmas(Settings.builder().put(QueryPragmas.MAX_CONCURRENT_NODES_PER_CLUSTER.getKey(), 1).build()));
 
-        try (var result = safeGet(client().execute(EsqlQueryAction.INSTANCE, query))) {
+        try (var result = safeGet(client(coordinatingNode).execute(EsqlQueryAction.INSTANCE, query))) {
             assertThat(Iterables.size(result.rows()), equalTo(1L));
-            assertThat(exchanges.get(), lessThanOrEqualTo(2));
+            assertThat(exchanges.get(), allOf(greaterThanOrEqualTo(1), lessThan(dataNodes)));
         } finally {
             coordinatorNodeTransport.clearAllRules();
         }