diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 50f95eb1a..b15f4e20c 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -721,9 +721,6 @@ func (c *Client) SandboxStore() sandbox.Store {
 // SandboxController returns the underlying sandbox controller client
 func (c *Client) SandboxController(name string) sandbox.Controller {
 	// default sandboxer is shim
-	if len(name) == 0 {
-		name = "shim"
-	}
 	if c.sandboxers != nil {
 		return c.sandboxers[name]
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/podsandbox/controller.go b/pkg/cri/server/podsandbox/controller.go
index beac42508..13ab1f9ab 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/podsandbox/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/podsandbox/controller.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func init() {
 		InitFn: func(ic *plugin.InitContext) (interface{}, error) {
 			// register the global controller to containerd plugin manager,
 			// the global controller will be initialized when cri plugin is initializing
-			return controller, nil
+			return &Controller{}, nil
 		},
 	})
 }
@@ -69,11 +69,6 @@ type ImageService interface {
 	GetImage(id string) (imagestore.Image, error)
 }
 
-// As the dependency from this controller to cri plugin is hard to decouple,
-// we define a global podsandbox controller and register it to containerd plugin manager first,
-// we will initialize this controller when we initialize the cri plugin.
-var controller = &Controller{}
-
 type Controller struct {
 	// config contains all configurations.
 	config criconfig.Config
@@ -93,7 +88,7 @@ type Controller struct {
 	store *Store
 }
 
-func Init(
+func (c *Controller) Init(
 	config criconfig.Config,
 	client *containerd.Client,
 	sandboxStore *sandboxstore.Store,
@@ -102,14 +97,14 @@ func Init(
 	imageService ImageService,
 	baseOCISpecs map[string]*oci.Spec,
 ) {
-	controller.cri = cri
-	controller.client = client
-	controller.config = config
-	controller.sandboxStore = sandboxStore
-	controller.os = os
-	controller.baseOCISpecs = baseOCISpecs
-	controller.store = NewStore()
-	controller.imageService = imageService
+	c.cri = cri
+	c.client = client
+	c.config = config
+	c.sandboxStore = sandboxStore
+	c.os = os
+	c.baseOCISpecs = baseOCISpecs
+	c.store = NewStore()
+	c.imageService = imageService
 }
 
 var _ sandbox.Controller = (*Controller)(nil)
diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/service.go b/pkg/cri/server/service.go
index a186eeefb..3e3ec68a6 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/service.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/service.go
@@ -196,8 +196,8 @@ func NewCRIService(config criconfig.Config, client *containerd.Client, nri *nri.
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// init the global podsandbox controller
-	podsandbox.Init(config, client, c.sandboxStore, c.os, c, c.imageService, c.baseOCISpecs)
+	podSandboxController := c.client.SandboxController(string(criconfig.ModePodSandbox)).(*podsandbox.Controller)
+	podSandboxController.Init(config, client, c.sandboxStore, c.os, c, c.imageService, c.baseOCISpecs)
 
 	c.nri = nri