diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
index 7e7a5e0fcd8b1..2b89ddc31aa70 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/ReplicationRequest.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.action.support.replication;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.TransportVersion;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionRequestValidationException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.IndicesRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.LegacyActionRequest;
@@ -40,6 +41,11 @@ public abstract class ReplicationRequest<Request extends ReplicationRequest<Requ
 
     public static final TimeValue DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = TimeValue.timeValueMinutes(1);
 
+    // superseded
+    private static final TransportVersion INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY = TransportVersion.fromName("index_reshard_shardcount_summary");
+    // bumped to use VInt instead of Int
+    private static final TransportVersion INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL = TransportVersion.fromName("index_reshard_shardcount_small");
+
     /**
      * Target shard the request should execute on. In case of index and delete requests,
      * shard id gets resolved by the transport action before performing request operation
@@ -51,41 +57,8 @@ public abstract class ReplicationRequest<Request extends ReplicationRequest<Requ
     protected String index;
 
     /**
-     * The reshardSplitShardCountSummary has been added to accommodate the Resharding feature.
-     * This is populated when the coordinator is deciding which shards a request applies to.
-     * For example, {@link org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkOperation} splits
-     * an incoming bulk request into shard level {@link org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkShardRequest}
-     * based on its cluster state view of the number of shards that are ready for indexing.
-     * The purpose of this metadata is to reconcile the cluster state visible at the coordinating
-     * node with that visible at the source shard node. (w.r.t resharding).
-     * When an index is being split, there is a point in time when the newly created shard (target shard)
-     * takes over its portion of the document space from the original shard (source shard).
-     * Although the handoff is atomic at the original (source shard) and new shards (target shard),
-     * there is a window of time between the coordinating node creating a shard request and the shard receiving and processing it.
-     * This field is used by the original shard (source shard) when it processes the request to detect whether
-     * the coordinator's view of the new shard's state when it created the request matches the shard's current state,
-     * or whether the request must be reprocessed taking into account the current shard states.
-     *
-     * Note that we are able to get away with a single number, instead of an array of target shard states,
-     * because we only allow splits in increments of 2x.
-     *
-     * Example 1:
-     * Suppose we are resharding an index from 2 -> 4 shards. While splitting a bulk request, the coordinator observes
-     * that target shards are not ready for indexing. So requests that are meant for shard 0 and 2 are bundled together,
-     * sent to shard 0 with “reshardSplitShardCountSummary” 2 in the request.
-     * Requests that are meant for shard 1 and 3 are bundled together,
-     * sent to shard 1 with “reshardSplitShardCountSummary” 2 in the request.
-     *
-     * Example 2:
-     * Suppose we are resharding an index from 4 -> 8 shards. While splitting a bulk request, the coordinator observes
-     * that source shard 0 has completed HANDOFF but source shards 1, 2, 3 have not completed handoff.
-     * So, the shard-bulk-request it sends to shard 0 and 4 has the "reshardSplitShardCountSummary" 8,
-     * while the shard-bulk-request it sends to shard 1,2,3 has the "reshardSplitShardCountSummary" 4.
-     * Note that in this case no shard-bulk-request is sent to shards 5, 6, 7 and the requests that were meant for these target shards
-     * are bundled together with and sent to their source shards.
-     *
-     * A value of 0 indicates an INVALID reshardSplitShardCountSummary. Hence, a request with INVALID reshardSplitShardCountSummary
-     * will be treated as a Summary mismatch on the source shard node.
+     * The reshardSplitShardCountSummary has been added to support in-place resharding.
+     * See {@link SplitShardCountSummary} for details.
      */
     protected final SplitShardCountSummary reshardSplitShardCountSummary;
 
@@ -128,7 +101,13 @@ public ReplicationRequest(@Nullable ShardId shardId, SplitShardCountSummary resh
         if (thinRead) {
             this.reshardSplitShardCountSummary = reshardSplitShardCountSummary;
         } else {
-            this.reshardSplitShardCountSummary = new SplitShardCountSummary(in);
+            if (in.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL)) {
+                this.reshardSplitShardCountSummary = SplitShardCountSummary.fromInt(in.readVInt());
+            } else if (in.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY)) {
+                this.reshardSplitShardCountSummary = SplitShardCountSummary.fromInt(in.readInt());
+            } else {
+                this.reshardSplitShardCountSummary = SplitShardCountSummary.UNSET;
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -257,7 +236,11 @@ public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         out.writeTimeValue(timeout);
         out.writeString(index);
         out.writeVLong(routedBasedOnClusterVersion);
-        reshardSplitShardCountSummary.writeTo(out);
+        if (out.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL)) {
+            out.writeVInt(reshardSplitShardCountSummary.asInt());
+        } else if (out.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY)) {
+            out.writeInt(reshardSplitShardCountSummary.asInt());
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/routing/SplitShardCountSummary.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/routing/SplitShardCountSummary.java
index 1d68bba8f338f..70596cd3b926f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/routing/SplitShardCountSummary.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/routing/SplitShardCountSummary.java
@@ -9,15 +9,9 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing;
 
-import org.elasticsearch.TransportVersion;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexReshardingMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexReshardingState;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Writeable;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
 
 /**
  * The SplitShardCountSummary has been added to accommodate in-place index resharding.
@@ -57,12 +51,7 @@
  * will be treated as a Summary mismatch on the source shard node.
  */
 
-public class SplitShardCountSummary implements Writeable {
-    // superseded
-    private static final TransportVersion INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY = TransportVersion.fromName("index_reshard_shardcount_summary");
-    // bumped to use VInt instead of Int
-    private static final TransportVersion INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL = TransportVersion.fromName("index_reshard_shardcount_small");
-
+public class SplitShardCountSummary {
     public static final SplitShardCountSummary UNSET = new SplitShardCountSummary(0);
 
     /**
@@ -137,16 +126,22 @@ private static SplitShardCountSummary getReshardSplitShardCountSummary(
         return new SplitShardCountSummary(shardCount);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Construct a SplitShardCountSummary from an integer
+     * Used for deserialization.
+     */
+    public static SplitShardCountSummary fromInt(int payload) {
+        return new SplitShardCountSummary(payload);
+    }
+
     private final int shardCountSummary;
 
-    public SplitShardCountSummary(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
-        if (in.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL)) {
-            this.shardCountSummary = in.readVInt();
-        } else if (in.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY)) {
-            this.shardCountSummary = in.readInt();
-        } else {
-            this.shardCountSummary = UNSET.shardCountSummary;
-        }
+    /**
+     * Return an integer representation of this summary
+     * Used for serialization.
+     */
+    public int asInt() {
+        return shardCountSummary;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -161,15 +156,6 @@ public boolean isUnset() {
         this.shardCountSummary = shardCountSummary;
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
-        if (out.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SMALL)) {
-            out.writeVInt(shardCountSummary);
-        } else if (out.getTransportVersion().supports(INDEX_RESHARD_SHARDCOUNT_SUMMARY)) {
-            out.writeInt(shardCountSummary);
-        }
-    }
-
     @Override
     public boolean equals(Object other) {
         if (this == other) {