diff --git a/hudi-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/sources/InputBatch.java b/hudi-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/sources/InputBatch.java
index 6f15dea978f02..dcf56f32bcc02 100644
--- a/hudi-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/sources/InputBatch.java
+++ b/hudi-utilities/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/sources/InputBatch.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.apache.hudi.utilities.sources;
 
 import org.apache.hudi.common.util.Option;
+import org.apache.hudi.exception.HoodieException;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.schema.SchemaProvider;
 
 public class InputBatch<T> {
@@ -48,6 +49,9 @@ public String getCheckpointForNextBatch() {
   }
 
   public SchemaProvider getSchemaProvider() {
+    if (schemaProvider == null) {
+      throw new HoodieException("Please provide a valid schema provider class!");
+    }
     return schemaProvider;
   }
 }
diff --git a/hudi-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/TestHoodieDeltaStreamer.java b/hudi-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/TestHoodieDeltaStreamer.java
index 0092de0ead6f5..5cdb532dca8fe 100644
--- a/hudi-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/TestHoodieDeltaStreamer.java
+++ b/hudi-utilities/src/test/java/org/apache/hudi/utilities/TestHoodieDeltaStreamer.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
 import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecord;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
@@ -46,12 +47,14 @@
 import org.apache.hudi.common.util.TypedProperties;
 import org.apache.hudi.config.HoodieCompactionConfig;
 import org.apache.hudi.exception.DatasetNotFoundException;
+import org.apache.hudi.exception.HoodieException;
 import org.apache.hudi.hive.HiveSyncConfig;
 import org.apache.hudi.hive.HoodieHiveClient;
 import org.apache.hudi.hive.MultiPartKeysValueExtractor;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.deltastreamer.HoodieDeltaStreamer;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.deltastreamer.HoodieDeltaStreamer.Operation;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.schema.FilebasedSchemaProvider;
+import org.apache.hudi.utilities.schema.SchemaProvider;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.sources.DistributedTestDataSource;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.sources.HoodieIncrSource;
 import org.apache.hudi.utilities.sources.InputBatch;
@@ -169,7 +172,12 @@ static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfig(String basePath, Operation op, Stri
     }
 
     static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfig(String basePath, Operation op, String transformerClassName,
-        String propsFilename, boolean enableHiveSync) {
+                                                 String propsFilename, boolean enableHiveSync) {
+      return makeConfig(basePath, op, transformerClassName, propsFilename, enableHiveSync, true);
+    }
+
+    static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfig(String basePath, Operation op, String transformerClassName,
+        String propsFilename, boolean enableHiveSync, boolean useSchemaProviderClass) {
       HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config cfg = new HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config();
       cfg.targetBasePath = basePath;
       cfg.targetTableName = "hoodie_trips";
@@ -181,12 +189,14 @@ static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfig(String basePath, Operation op, Stri
       cfg.sourceOrderingField = "timestamp";
       cfg.propsFilePath = dfsBasePath + "/" + propsFilename;
       cfg.sourceLimit = 1000;
-      cfg.schemaProviderClassName = FilebasedSchemaProvider.class.getName();
+      if (useSchemaProviderClass) {
+        cfg.schemaProviderClassName = FilebasedSchemaProvider.class.getName();
+      }
       return cfg;
     }
 
     static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(String srcBasePath, String basePath, Operation op,
-        boolean addReadLatestOnMissingCkpt) {
+        boolean addReadLatestOnMissingCkpt, String schemaProviderClassName) {
       HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config cfg = new HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config();
       cfg.targetBasePath = basePath;
       cfg.targetTableName = "hoodie_trips_copy";
@@ -196,6 +206,9 @@ static HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(String srcBasePath, S
       cfg.sourceOrderingField = "timestamp";
       cfg.propsFilePath = dfsBasePath + "/test-downstream-source.properties";
       cfg.sourceLimit = 1000;
+      if (null != schemaProviderClassName) {
+        cfg.schemaProviderClassName = schemaProviderClassName;
+      }
       List<String> cfgs = new ArrayList<>();
       cfgs.add("hoodie.deltastreamer.source.hoodieincr.read_latest_on_missing_ckpt=" + addReadLatestOnMissingCkpt);
       cfgs.add("hoodie.deltastreamer.source.hoodieincr.path=" + srcBasePath);
@@ -412,7 +425,8 @@ public void testBulkInsertsAndUpsertsWithSQLBasedTransformerFor2StepPipeline() t
 
     // Now incrementally pull from the above hudi table and ingest to second table
     HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config downstreamCfg =
-        TestHelpers.makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(datasetBasePath, downstreamDatasetBasePath, Operation.BULK_INSERT, true);
+        TestHelpers.makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(datasetBasePath, downstreamDatasetBasePath, Operation.BULK_INSERT,
+            true, null);
     new HoodieDeltaStreamer(downstreamCfg, jsc, dfs, hiveServer.getHiveConf()).sync();
     TestHelpers.assertRecordCount(1000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
     TestHelpers.assertDistanceCount(1000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
@@ -428,7 +442,10 @@ public void testBulkInsertsAndUpsertsWithSQLBasedTransformerFor2StepPipeline() t
     TestHelpers.assertCommitMetadata("00000", datasetBasePath, dfs, 1);
 
     // with no change in upstream table, no change in downstream too when pulled.
-    new HoodieDeltaStreamer(downstreamCfg, jsc).sync();
+    HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config downstreamCfg1 =
+        TestHelpers.makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(datasetBasePath, downstreamDatasetBasePath,
+            Operation.BULK_INSERT, true, DummySchemaProvider.class.getName());
+    new HoodieDeltaStreamer(downstreamCfg1, jsc).sync();
     TestHelpers.assertRecordCount(1000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
     TestHelpers.assertDistanceCount(1000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
     TestHelpers.assertDistanceCountWithExactValue(1000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
@@ -447,7 +464,8 @@ public void testBulkInsertsAndUpsertsWithSQLBasedTransformerFor2StepPipeline() t
 
     // Incrementally pull changes in upstream hudi table and apply to downstream table
     downstreamCfg =
-        TestHelpers.makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(datasetBasePath, downstreamDatasetBasePath, Operation.UPSERT, false);
+        TestHelpers.makeConfigForHudiIncrSrc(datasetBasePath, downstreamDatasetBasePath, Operation.UPSERT,
+            false, null);
     downstreamCfg.sourceLimit = 2000;
     new HoodieDeltaStreamer(downstreamCfg, jsc).sync();
     TestHelpers.assertRecordCount(2000, downstreamDatasetBasePath + "/*/*.parquet", sqlContext);
@@ -467,6 +485,21 @@ public void testBulkInsertsAndUpsertsWithSQLBasedTransformerFor2StepPipeline() t
         hiveClient.getLastCommitTimeSynced().get());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testNullSchemaProvider() throws Exception {
+    String dataSetBasePath = dfsBasePath + "/test_dataset";
+    HoodieDeltaStreamer.Config cfg = TestHelpers.makeConfig(dataSetBasePath, Operation.BULK_INSERT,
+        SqlQueryBasedTransformer.class.getName(), PROPS_FILENAME_TEST_SOURCE, true,
+        false);
+    try {
+      new HoodieDeltaStreamer(cfg, jsc, dfs, hiveServer.getHiveConf()).sync();
+      fail("Should error out when schema provider is not provided");
+    } catch (HoodieException e) {
+      log.error("Expected error during reading data from source ", e);
+      assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Please provide a valid schema provider class!"));
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testFilterDupes() throws Exception {
     String datasetBasePath = dfsBasePath + "/test_dupes_dataset";
@@ -577,4 +610,16 @@ public Dataset apply(JavaSparkContext jsc, SparkSession sparkSession, Dataset<Ro
       return sparkSession.createDataFrame(jsc.emptyRDD(), rowDataset.schema());
     }
   }
+
+  public static class DummySchemaProvider extends SchemaProvider {
+
+    public DummySchemaProvider(TypedProperties props, JavaSparkContext jssc) {
+      super(props, jssc);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Schema getSourceSchema() {
+      return Schema.create(Schema.Type.NULL);
+    }
+  }
 }