diff --git a/datafusion/core/Cargo.toml b/datafusion/core/Cargo.toml
index ec7ee07d7f8e..23b5717af47c 100644
--- a/datafusion/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/datafusion/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -246,3 +246,7 @@ name = "dataframe"
 [[bench]]
 harness = false
 name = "spm"
+
+[[bench]]
+harness = false
+name = "sort_merge_join"
diff --git a/datafusion/core/benches/sort_merge_join.rs b/datafusion/core/benches/sort_merge_join.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..be891f9c0b7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/datafusion/core/benches/sort_merge_join.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+use arrow::array::{Int32Array, RecordBatch};
+use arrow_schema::{DataType, Field, Schema, SortOptions};
+use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
+use datafusion_common::JoinType::Inner;
+use datafusion_datasource::memory::MemorySourceConfig;
+use datafusion_execution::config::SessionConfig;
+use datafusion_execution::disk_manager::DiskManagerConfig;
+use datafusion_execution::runtime_env::RuntimeEnvBuilder;
+use datafusion_execution::TaskContext;
+use datafusion_physical_expr::expressions::Column;
+use datafusion_physical_plan::common::collect;
+use datafusion_physical_plan::joins::SortMergeJoinExec;
+use datafusion_physical_plan::ExecutionPlan;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use tokio::runtime::Runtime;
+
+fn create_smj_exec(array_len: usize, batch_size: usize) -> SortMergeJoinExec {
+    // define a schema.
+    let schema = Arc::new(Schema::new(vec![
+        Field::new("a1", DataType::Int32, false),
+        Field::new("b1", DataType::Int32, false),
+        Field::new("c1", DataType::Int32, false),
+    ]));
+    // define data.
+    let batches = (0..array_len / batch_size)
+        .map(|i| {
+            RecordBatch::try_new(
+                Arc::clone(&schema),
+                vec![
+                    Arc::new(Int32Array::from(vec![i as i32; batch_size])),
+                    Arc::new(Int32Array::from(vec![i as i32; batch_size])),
+                    Arc::new(Int32Array::from(vec![i as i32; batch_size])),
+                ],
+            )
+            .unwrap()
+        })
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    let datasource_exec =
+        MemorySourceConfig::try_new_exec(&[batches], Arc::clone(&schema), None).unwrap();
+
+    let on = vec![(
+        Arc::new(Column::new_with_schema("b1", &schema).unwrap()) as _,
+        Arc::new(Column::new_with_schema("b1", &schema).unwrap()) as _,
+    )];
+    let sort_options = vec![SortOptions::default(); on.len()];
+    SortMergeJoinExec::try_new(
+        datasource_exec.clone(),
+        datasource_exec.clone(),
+        on,
+        None,
+        Inner,
+        sort_options,
+        false,
+    )
+    .unwrap()
+}
+
+// `cargo bench --bench sort_merge_join`
+fn bench_spill(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let rt = Runtime::new().unwrap();
+    c.bench_function("SortMergeJoinExec_spill", |b| {
+        let join_exec = create_smj_exec(1_048_576, 4096);
+
+        // create a session context. enable spilling
+        let runtime_env = RuntimeEnvBuilder::new()
+            .with_memory_limit(1024, 1.0) // Set memory limit to 1KB
+            .with_disk_manager(DiskManagerConfig::NewOs) // Enable DiskManager to allow spilling
+            .build_arc()
+            .unwrap();
+        let task_ctx = Arc::new(
+            TaskContext::default()
+                .with_session_config(SessionConfig::new())
+                .with_runtime(Arc::clone(&runtime_env)),
+        );
+
+        b.iter(|| {
+            let stream = join_exec.execute(0, Arc::clone(&task_ctx)).unwrap();
+            criterion::black_box(rt.block_on(collect(stream))).unwrap();
+        });
+        // check if spilling happened
+        assert!(join_exec.metrics().unwrap().spilled_rows().unwrap() > 0);
+    });
+}
+
+criterion_group!(
+    name = benches;
+    config = Criterion::default().sample_size(10);
+    targets = bench_spill
+);
+criterion_main!(benches);
diff --git a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/sort_merge_join.rs b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/sort_merge_join.rs
index 9a6832283486..3ecc25c0be05 100644
--- a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/sort_merge_join.rs
+++ b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/sort_merge_join.rs
@@ -2343,7 +2343,7 @@ fn fetch_right_columns_from_batch_by_idxs(
                 Vec::with_capacity(buffered_indices.len());
 
             let file = BufReader::new(File::open(spill_file.path())?);
-            let reader = StreamReader::try_new(file, None)?;
+            let reader = unsafe {StreamReader::try_new(file, None)?.with_skip_validation(true)};
 
             for batch in reader {
                 batch?.columns().iter().for_each(|column| {