diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
index 5f58dec3521dc..b08a127b4a806 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
@@ -594,19 +594,35 @@ final SearchContext createAndPutContext(ShardSearchRequest request) throws IOExc
         }
 
         SearchContext context = createContext(request);
+        onNewContext(context);
         boolean success = false;
         try {
             putContext(context);
-            if (request.scroll() != null) {
+            success = true;
+            return context;
+        } finally {
+            if (success == false) {
+                freeContext(context.id());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void onNewContext(SearchContext context) {
+        boolean success = false;
+        try {
+            if (context.scrollContext() != null) {
                 openScrollContexts.incrementAndGet();
                 context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onNewScrollContext(context);
             }
             context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onNewContext(context);
             success = true;
-            return context;
         } finally {
-            if (!success) {
-                freeContext(context.id());
+            // currently, the concrete listener is CompositeListener, which swallows exceptions, but here we anyway try to do the
+            // right thing by closing and notifying onFreeXXX in case one of the listeners fails with an exception in the future.
+            if (success == false) {
+                try (SearchContext dummy = context) {
+                    onFreeContext(context);
+                }
             }
         }
     }
@@ -693,13 +709,8 @@ private void freeAllContextForIndex(Index index) {
     public boolean freeContext(long id) {
         final SearchContext context = removeContext(id);
         if (context != null) {
-            assert context.refCount() > 0 : " refCount must be > 0: " + context.refCount();
             try {
-                context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onFreeContext(context);
-                if (context.scrollContext() != null) {
-                    openScrollContexts.decrementAndGet();
-                    context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onFreeScrollContext(context);
-                }
+                onFreeContext(context);
             } finally {
                 context.close();
             }
@@ -708,6 +719,16 @@ public boolean freeContext(long id) {
         return false;
     }
 
+    private void onFreeContext(SearchContext context) {
+        assert context.refCount() > 0 : " refCount must be > 0: " + context.refCount();
+        assert activeContexts.containsKey(context.id()) == false;
+        context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onFreeContext(context);
+        if (context.scrollContext() != null) {
+            openScrollContexts.decrementAndGet();
+            context.indexShard().getSearchOperationListener().onFreeScrollContext(context);
+        }
+    }
+
     public void freeAllScrollContexts() {
         for (SearchContext searchContext : activeContexts.values()) {
             if (searchContext.scrollContext() != null) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
index 6dd9550701fe3..b8052fc621868 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.search;
 
 import com.carrotsearch.hppc.IntArrayList;
-
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.AlreadyClosedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryRewriteContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryShardContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.TermQueryBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.search.stats.SearchStats;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.SearchOperationListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ public void testSearchWhileIndexDeleted() throws InterruptedException {
         AtomicBoolean running = new AtomicBoolean(true);
         CountDownLatch startGun = new CountDownLatch(1);
         Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+
         final Thread thread = new Thread() {
             @Override
             public void run() {
@@ -267,10 +268,17 @@ public void onFailure(Exception e) {
                 try {
                     try {
                         PlainActionFuture<SearchPhaseResult> result = new PlainActionFuture<>();
-                        service.executeQueryPhase(
-                            new ShardSearchLocalRequest(indexShard.shardId(), 1, SearchType.DEFAULT,
+                        final boolean useScroll = randomBoolean();
+                        ShardSearchLocalRequest shardRequest;
+                        if (useScroll) {
+                            shardRequest = new ShardScrollRequestTest(indexShard.shardId());
+                        } else {
+                            shardRequest = new ShardSearchLocalRequest(indexShard.shardId(), 1, SearchType.DEFAULT,
                                 new SearchSourceBuilder(), new String[0], false, new AliasFilter(null, Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY), 1.0f,
-                                true, null, null),
+                                true, null, null);
+                        }
+                        service.executeQueryPhase(
+                            shardRequest,
                             new SearchTask(123L, "", "", "", null, Collections.emptyMap()), result);
                         SearchPhaseResult searchPhaseResult = result.get();
                         IntArrayList intCursors = new IntArrayList(1);
@@ -279,6 +287,9 @@ public void onFailure(Exception e) {
                         PlainActionFuture<FetchSearchResult> listener = new PlainActionFuture<>();
                         service.executeFetchPhase(req, new SearchTask(123L, "", "", "", null, Collections.emptyMap()), listener);
                         listener.get();
+                        if (useScroll) {
+                            service.freeContext(searchPhaseResult.getRequestId());
+                        }
                     } catch (ExecutionException ex) {
                         assertThat(ex.getCause(), instanceOf(RuntimeException.class));
                         throw ((RuntimeException)ex.getCause());
@@ -296,6 +307,13 @@ public void onFailure(Exception e) {
             thread.join();
             semaphore.acquire(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
         }
+
+        assertEquals(0, service.getActiveContexts());
+
+        SearchStats.Stats totalStats = indexShard.searchStats().getTotal();
+        assertEquals(0, totalStats.getQueryCurrent());
+        assertEquals(0, totalStats.getScrollCurrent());
+        assertEquals(0, totalStats.getFetchCurrent());
     }
 
     public void testTimeout() throws IOException {