diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/client/DecommissionUtils.java b/hadoop-hdds/common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/client/DecommissionUtils.java
index 7d5b610b0875..c176ad1464ec 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/client/DecommissionUtils.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/client/DecommissionUtils.java
@@ -126,7 +126,9 @@ public static Map<String, Object> getCountsMap(DatanodeDetails datanode, JsonNod
                                                  Map<String, Object> countsMap, String errMsg)
       throws IOException {
     for (int i = 1; i <= numDecomNodes; i++) {
-      if (datanode.getHostName().equals(counts.get("tag.datanode." + i).asText())) {
+      String datanodeHostName =
+          (counts.get("tag.datanode." + i) != null) ? (counts.get("tag.datanode." + i).asText()) : "";
+      if (datanode.getHostName().equals(datanodeHostName)) {
         JsonNode pipelinesDN = counts.get("PipelinesWaitingToCloseDN." + i);
         JsonNode underReplicatedDN = counts.get("UnderReplicatedDN." + i);
         JsonNode unclosedDN = counts.get("UnclosedContainersDN." + i);