diff --git a/src/sync.rs b/src/sync.rs
index df77b40..52cd3a4 100644
--- a/src/sync.rs
+++ b/src/sync.rs
@@ -208,6 +208,37 @@ impl<
         self.shards.iter().map(|s| s.read().hits()).sum()
     }
 
+    #[inline]
+    fn compute_shard_index(&self, hash: u64) -> u64 {
+        // Give preference to the bits in the middle of the hash. When choosing the
+        // shard, rotate the hash by usize::BITS / 2 so we avoid the lower bits and
+        // the highest 7 bits that hashbrown uses internally for probing, improving
+        // the real entropy available to each hashbrown shard.
+        hash.rotate_right(usize::BITS / 2) & self.shards_mask
+    }
+
+    /// Returns the shard index for the given key.
+    ///
+    /// The returned index is guaranteed to be in `[0, num_shards())`.
+    ///
+    /// # Use cases
+    ///
+    /// - **Batching**: group keys by shard index before acquiring shard locks, so
+    ///   each lock is taken only once per batch instead of once per key.
+    ///
+    /// # Notes
+    ///
+    /// The mapping from key to shard index depends on the [`BuildHasher`] supplied
+    /// at construction time. If two `Cache` instances are built with different
+    /// hashers, the same key may map to different shard indices.
+    ///
+    /// [`BuildHasher`]: std::hash::BuildHasher
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn shard_index<Q: Hash + Equivalent<Key> + ?Sized>(&self, key: &Q) -> usize {
+        let hash = self.hash_builder.hash_one(key);
+        self.compute_shard_index(hash) as usize
+    }
+
     #[inline]
     fn shard_for<Q>(
         &self,
@@ -220,11 +251,7 @@ impl<
         Q: Hash + Equivalent<Key> + ?Sized,
     {
         let hash = self.hash_builder.hash_one(key);
-        // When choosing the shard, rotate the hash bits usize::BITS / 2 so that we
-        // give preference to the bits in the middle of the hash.
-        // Internally hashbrown uses the lower bits for start of probing + the 7 highest,
-        // so by picking something else we improve the real entropy available to each hashbrown shard.
-        let shard_idx = (hash.rotate_right(usize::BITS / 2) & self.shards_mask) as usize;
+        let shard_idx = self.compute_shard_index(hash) as usize;
         self.shards.get(shard_idx).map(|s| (s, hash))
     }