diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/metadata/metadata_sync.c b/src/backend/distributed/metadata/metadata_sync.c
index b025d0839..f443033e4 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/metadata/metadata_sync.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/metadata/metadata_sync.c
@@ -1346,6 +1346,23 @@ ShardListInsertCommand(List *shardIntervalList)
 }
 
 
+/*
+ * ShardListDeleteCommand generates a command list that can be executed to delete
+ * shard and shard placement metadata for the given shard.
+ */
+List *
+ShardDeleteCommandList(ShardInterval *shardInterval)
+{
+	uint64 shardId = shardInterval->shardId;
+
+	StringInfo deleteShardCommand = makeStringInfo();
+	appendStringInfo(deleteShardCommand,
+					 "SELECT citus_internal_delete_shard_metadata(%ld);", shardId);
+
+	return list_make1(deleteShardCommand->data);
+}
+
+
 /*
  * NodeDeleteCommand generate a command that can be
  * executed to delete the metadata for a worker node.
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h b/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
index e4cdf8830..a3e88d244 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/metadata_sync.h
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ extern char * DistributionDeleteCommand(const char *schemaName,
 extern char * TableOwnerResetCommand(Oid distributedRelationId);
 extern char * NodeListInsertCommand(List *workerNodeList);
 extern List * ShardListInsertCommand(List *shardIntervalList);
+extern List * ShardDeleteCommandList(ShardInterval *shardInterval);
 extern char * NodeDeleteCommand(uint32 nodeId);
 extern char * NodeStateUpdateCommand(uint32 nodeId, bool isActive);
 extern char * ShouldHaveShardsUpdateCommand(uint32 nodeId, bool shouldHaveShards);