diff --git a/test/integration/scheduler_perf/scheduler_perf.go b/test/integration/scheduler_perf/scheduler_perf.go
index 5f0b903b80e..5a2d4031876 100644
--- a/test/integration/scheduler_perf/scheduler_perf.go
+++ b/test/integration/scheduler_perf/scheduler_perf.go
@@ -1149,6 +1149,9 @@ func setupTestCase(t testing.TB, tc *testCase, featureGates map[featuregate.Feat
 	if qhEnabled, exists := featureGates[features.SchedulerQueueingHints]; exists && !qhEnabled {
 		featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGateEmulationVersionDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, version.MustParse("1.33"))
 	} else if _, found := featureGates[features.OpportunisticBatching]; !found {
+		if featureGates == nil {
+			featureGates = map[featuregate.Feature]bool{}
+		}
 		featureGates[features.OpportunisticBatching] = false
 	}
 	featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGatesDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, featureGates)