diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h b/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
index 9262dcd1b..2736fdbf8 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_internal.h
@@ -888,6 +888,7 @@ nvme_allocate_request(struct spdk_nvme_qpair *qpair,
 	req->payload_size = payload_size;
 	req->qpair = qpair;
 	req->pid = g_spdk_nvme_pid;
+	req->submit_tick = 0;
 
 	return req;
 }