diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHit.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHit.java
index 66999c7e3899b..28a600c0d21ef 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHit.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHit.java
@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.search;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
+
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Explanation;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchParseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.OriginalIndices;
@@ -51,16 +61,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.search.lookup.SourceLookup;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.RemoteClusterAware;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.Iterator;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Objects;
-
 import static java.util.Collections.emptyMap;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonMap;
 import static java.util.Collections.unmodifiableMap;
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ public final class SearchHit implements Streamable, ToXContentObject, Iterable<D
     @Nullable
     private SearchShardTarget shard;
 
+    //These two fields normally get set when setting the shard target, so they hold the same values as the target thus don't get
+    //serialized over the wire. When parsing hits back from xcontent though, in most of the cases (whenever explanation is disabled)
+    //we can't rebuild the shard target object so we need to set these manually for users retrieval.
     private transient String index;
     private transient String clusterAlias;
 
@@ -551,7 +554,26 @@ public static SearchHit createFromMap(Map<String, Object> values) {
         Map<String, DocumentField> fields = get(Fields.FIELDS, values, Collections.emptyMap());
 
         SearchHit searchHit = new SearchHit(-1, id, type, nestedIdentity, fields);
-        searchHit.index = get(Fields._INDEX, values, null);
+        String index = get(Fields._INDEX, values, null);
+        String clusterAlias = null;
+        if (index != null) {
+            int indexOf = index.indexOf(RemoteClusterAware.REMOTE_CLUSTER_INDEX_SEPARATOR);
+            if (indexOf > 0) {
+                clusterAlias = index.substring(0, indexOf);
+                index = index.substring(indexOf + 1);
+            }
+        }
+        ShardId shardId = get(Fields._SHARD, values, null);
+        String nodeId = get(Fields._NODE, values, null);
+        if (shardId != null && nodeId != null) {
+            assert shardId.getIndexName().equals(index);
+            searchHit.shard(new SearchShardTarget(nodeId, shardId, clusterAlias, OriginalIndices.NONE));
+        } else {
+            //these fields get set anyways when setting the shard target,
+            //but we set them explicitly when we don't have enough info to rebuild the shard target
+            searchHit.index = index;
+            searchHit.clusterAlias = clusterAlias;
+        }
         searchHit.score(get(Fields._SCORE, values, DEFAULT_SCORE));
         searchHit.version(get(Fields._VERSION, values, -1L));
         searchHit.sortValues(get(Fields.SORT, values, SearchSortValues.EMPTY));
@@ -561,12 +583,7 @@ public static SearchHit createFromMap(Map<String, Object> values) {
         searchHit.setInnerHits(get(Fields.INNER_HITS, values, null));
         List<String> matchedQueries = get(Fields.MATCHED_QUERIES, values, null);
         if (matchedQueries != null) {
-            searchHit.matchedQueries(matchedQueries.toArray(new String[matchedQueries.size()]));
-        }
-        ShardId shardId = get(Fields._SHARD, values, null);
-        String nodeId = get(Fields._NODE, values, null);
-        if (shardId != null && nodeId != null) {
-            searchHit.shard(new SearchShardTarget(nodeId, shardId, null, OriginalIndices.NONE));
+            searchHit.matchedQueries(matchedQueries.toArray(new String[0]));
         }
         return searchHit;
     }
@@ -842,13 +859,15 @@ public boolean equals(Object obj) {
                 && Arrays.equals(matchedQueries, other.matchedQueries)
                 && Objects.equals(explanation, other.explanation)
                 && Objects.equals(shard, other.shard)
-                && Objects.equals(innerHits, other.innerHits);
+                && Objects.equals(innerHits, other.innerHits)
+                && Objects.equals(index, other.index)
+                && Objects.equals(clusterAlias, other.clusterAlias);
     }
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
         return Objects.hash(id, type, nestedIdentity, version, source, fields, getHighlightFields(), Arrays.hashCode(matchedQueries),
-                explanation, shard, innerHits);
+                explanation, shard, innerHits, index, clusterAlias);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
index 4ac742ff5d9fe..faf415b54ae32 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchShardTarget.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.search;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.OriginalIndices;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
@@ -30,8 +32,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.RemoteClusterAware;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
-
 /**
  * The target that the search request was executed on.
  */
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public final class SearchShardTarget implements Writeable, Comparable<SearchShar
 
     private final Text nodeId;
     private final ShardId shardId;
-    //original indices and cluster alias are only needed in the coordinating node throughout the search request execution.
+    //original indices are only needed in the coordinating node throughout the search request execution.
     //no need to serialize them as part of SearchShardTarget.
     private final transient OriginalIndices originalIndices;
     private final String clusterAlias;
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHitTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHitTests.java
index 87b8ba2dc59b0..996faf03ffbf7 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHitTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchHitTests.java
@@ -119,9 +119,10 @@ public static SearchHit createTestItem(boolean withOptionalInnerHits) {
             hit.setInnerHits(innerHits);
         }
         if (randomBoolean()) {
+            String index = randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10);
+            String clusterAlias = randomBoolean() ? null : randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10);
             hit.shard(new SearchShardTarget(randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10),
-                    new ShardId(new Index(randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10), randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10)), randomInt()), null,
-                    OriginalIndices.NONE));
+                new ShardId(new Index(index, randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(5, 10)), randomInt()), clusterAlias, OriginalIndices.NONE));
         }
         return hit;
     }