diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml b/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
index 47f02f059..4748b09fb 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
@@ -57,13 +57,40 @@ jobs:
       docker ps
       ip netns list
       pushd sonic-swss/tests
-      sudo py.test -v --force-flaky --junitxml=tr.xml --imgname=docker-sonic-vs:$(Build.DefinitionName).$(Build.BuildNumber)
+
+      # run pytests in sets of 20   
+      all_tests=$(ls test_*.py)
+      all_tests="${all_tests} p4rt"
+      test_set=()
+      for test in ${all_tests}; do
+        test_set+=("${test}")
+        if [ ${#test_set[@]} -ge 20 ]; then
+          test_name=$(echo "${test_set[0]}" | cut -d "." -f 1)
+          echo "${test_set[*]}" | xargs sudo py.test -v --force-flaky --junitxml="${test_name}_tr.xml" --keeptb --imgname=docker-sonic-vs:$(Build.DefinitionName).$(Build.BuildNumber)
+          container_count=$(docker ps -q -a | wc -l)
+          if [ ${container_count} -gt 0 ]; then
+            docker stop $(docker ps -q -a)
+            docker rm $(docker ps -q -a)
+          fi
+          test_set=()
+        fi
+      done
+      if [ ${#test_set[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+        test_name=$(echo "${test_set[0]}" | cut -d "." -f 1)
+        echo "${test_set[*]}" | xargs sudo py.test -v --force-flaky --junitxml="${test_name}_tr.xml" --keeptb --imgname=docker-sonic-vs:$(Build.DefinitionName).$(Build.BuildNumber)
+        container_count=$(docker ps -q -a | wc -l)
+        if [ ${container_count} -gt 0 ]; then
+          docker stop $(docker ps -q -a)
+          docker rm $(docker ps -q -a)
+        fi
+      fi
+
       rm -rf $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
     displayName: "Run vs tests"
 
   - task: PublishTestResults@2
     inputs:
-      testResultsFiles: '**/tr.xml'
+      testResultsFiles: '**/*_tr.xml'
       testRunTitle: vstest
     condition: always()