diff --git a/pulsar/default_router.go b/pulsar/default_router.go
index b5e24a6214..6945ff195a 100644
--- a/pulsar/default_router.go
+++ b/pulsar/default_router.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 package pulsar
 
 import (
-	"math"
 	"math/rand"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 type defaultRouter struct {
 	currentPartitionCursor uint32
 
-	lastChangeTimestamp int64
+	lastBatchTimestamp  int64
 	msgCounter          uint32
 	cumulativeBatchSize uint32
 }
@@ -45,7 +44,7 @@ func NewDefaultRouter(
 	disableBatching bool) func(*ProducerMessage, uint32) int {
 	state := &defaultRouter{
 		currentPartitionCursor: rand.Uint32(),
-		lastChangeTimestamp:    math.MinInt64,
+		lastBatchTimestamp:     time.Now().UnixNano(),
 	}
 
 	readClockAfterNumMessages := uint32(maxBatchingMessages / 10)
@@ -75,37 +74,38 @@ func NewDefaultRouter(
 		// If there's no key, we do round-robin across partition, sticking with a given
 		// partition for a certain amount of messages or volume buffered or the max delay to batch is reached so that
 		// we ensure having a decent amount of batching of the messages.
-		// Note that it is possible that we skip more than one partition if multiple goroutines increment
-		// currentPartitionCursor at the same time. If that happens it shouldn't be a problem because we only want to
-		// spread the data on different partitions but not necessarily in a specific sequence.
 		var now int64
 		size := uint32(len(message.Payload))
-		previousMessageCount := atomic.LoadUint32(&state.msgCounter)
-		previousBatchingMaxSize := atomic.LoadUint32(&state.cumulativeBatchSize)
-		previousLastChange := atomic.LoadInt64(&state.lastChangeTimestamp)
+		partitionCursor := atomic.LoadUint32(&state.currentPartitionCursor)
+		messageCount := atomic.AddUint32(&state.msgCounter, 1)
+		batchSize := atomic.AddUint32(&state.cumulativeBatchSize, size)
 
-		messageCountReached := previousMessageCount >= uint32(maxBatchingMessages-1)
-		sizeReached := (size >= uint32(maxBatchingSize)-previousBatchingMaxSize)
+		// Note: use greater-than for the threshold check so that we don't route this message to a new partition
+		//       before a batch is complete.
+		messageCountReached := messageCount > uint32(maxBatchingMessages)
+		sizeReached := batchSize > uint32(maxBatchingSize)
 		durationReached := false
-		if readClockAfterNumMessages == 0 || previousMessageCount%readClockAfterNumMessages == 0 {
+		if readClockAfterNumMessages == 0 || messageCount%readClockAfterNumMessages == 0 {
 			now = time.Now().UnixNano()
-			durationReached = now-previousLastChange >= maxBatchingDelay.Nanoseconds()
+			lastBatchTime := atomic.LoadInt64(&state.lastBatchTimestamp)
+			durationReached = now-lastBatchTime > maxBatchingDelay.Nanoseconds()
 		}
 		if messageCountReached || sizeReached || durationReached {
-			atomic.AddUint32(&state.currentPartitionCursor, 1)
-			atomic.StoreUint32(&state.msgCounter, 0)
-			atomic.StoreUint32(&state.cumulativeBatchSize, 0)
-			if now != 0 {
-				atomic.StoreInt64(&state.lastChangeTimestamp, now)
+			// Note: CAS to ensure that concurrent go-routines can only move the cursor forward by one so that
+			//       partitions are not skipped.
+			newCursor := partitionCursor + 1
+			if atomic.CompareAndSwapUint32(&state.currentPartitionCursor, partitionCursor, newCursor) {
+				atomic.StoreUint32(&state.msgCounter, 0)
+				atomic.StoreUint32(&state.cumulativeBatchSize, 0)
+				if now == 0 {
+					now = time.Now().UnixNano()
+				}
+				atomic.StoreInt64(&state.lastBatchTimestamp, now)
 			}
-			return int(state.currentPartitionCursor % numPartitions)
-		}
 
-		atomic.AddUint32(&state.msgCounter, 1)
-		atomic.AddUint32(&state.cumulativeBatchSize, size)
-		if now != 0 {
-			atomic.StoreInt64(&state.lastChangeTimestamp, now)
+			return int(newCursor % numPartitions)
 		}
-		return int(state.currentPartitionCursor % numPartitions)
+
+		return int(partitionCursor % numPartitions)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pulsar/default_router_test.go b/pulsar/default_router_test.go
index 31b27aff99..3c42e66d88 100644
--- a/pulsar/default_router_test.go
+++ b/pulsar/default_router_test.go
@@ -71,16 +71,21 @@ func TestDefaultRouterRoutingBecauseMaxNumberOfMessagesReached(t *testing.T) {
 	const numPartitions = uint32(3)
 	p1 := router(&ProducerMessage{
 		Payload: []byte("message 1"),
-	}, 3)
+	}, numPartitions)
 	assert.LessOrEqual(t, p1, int(numPartitions))
 
 	p2 := router(&ProducerMessage{
 		Payload: []byte("message 2"),
 	}, numPartitions)
-	if p1 == int(numPartitions-1) {
-		assert.Equal(t, 0, p2)
+	assert.Equal(t, p1, p2)
+
+	p3 := router(&ProducerMessage{
+		Payload: []byte("message 3"),
+	}, numPartitions)
+	if p2 == int(numPartitions-1) {
+		assert.Equal(t, 0, p3)
 	} else {
-		assert.Equal(t, p1+1, p2)
+		assert.Equal(t, p2+1, p3)
 	}
 }