diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Data.Analysis/DataFrame.Join.cs b/src/Microsoft.Data.Analysis/DataFrame.Join.cs
index d5a1278371..381268dee2 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Data.Analysis/DataFrame.Join.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Data.Analysis/DataFrame.Join.cs
@@ -252,9 +252,9 @@ public DataFrame Merge<TKey>(DataFrame other, string leftJoinColumn, string righ
                 // Hash the column with the smaller RowCount 
                 long leftRowCount = Rows.Count;
                 long rightRowCount = other.Rows.Count;
-                DataFrame longerDataFrame = leftRowCount <= rightRowCount ? other : this;
-                DataFrame shorterDataFrame = ReferenceEquals(longerDataFrame, this) ? other : this;
-                DataFrameColumn hashColumn = (leftRowCount <= rightRowCount) ? Columns[leftJoinColumn] : other.Columns[rightJoinColumn];
+
+                var leftColumnIsSmaller = (leftRowCount <= rightRowCount);
+                DataFrameColumn hashColumn = leftColumnIsSmaller ? Columns[leftJoinColumn] : other.Columns[rightJoinColumn];
                 DataFrameColumn otherColumn = ReferenceEquals(hashColumn, Columns[leftJoinColumn]) ? other.Columns[rightJoinColumn] : Columns[leftJoinColumn];
                 Dictionary<TKey, ICollection<long>> multimap = hashColumn.GroupColumnValues<TKey>();
 
@@ -270,23 +270,21 @@ public DataFrame Merge<TKey>(DataFrame other, string leftJoinColumn, string righ
                             {
                                 if (hashColumn[row] == null)
                                 {
-                                    leftRowIndices.Append(row);
-                                    rightRowIndices.Append(i);
+                                    leftRowIndices.Append(leftColumnIsSmaller ? row : i);
+                                    rightRowIndices.Append(leftColumnIsSmaller ? i : row);
                                 }
                             }
                             else
                             {
                                 if (hashColumn[row] != null)
                                 {
-                                    leftRowIndices.Append(row);
-                                    rightRowIndices.Append(i);
+                                    leftRowIndices.Append(leftColumnIsSmaller ? row : i);
+                                    rightRowIndices.Append(leftColumnIsSmaller ? i : row);
                                 }
                             }
                         }
                     }
                 }
-                leftDataFrame = shorterDataFrame;
-                rightDataFrame = longerDataFrame;
             }
             else if (joinAlgorithm == JoinAlgorithm.FullOuter)
             {
@@ -366,4 +364,5 @@ public DataFrame Merge<TKey>(DataFrame other, string leftJoinColumn, string righ
         }
 
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.Data.Analysis.Tests/DataFrameTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.Data.Analysis.Tests/DataFrameTests.cs
index 300babbffb..72072fd533 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.Data.Analysis.Tests/DataFrameTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.Data.Analysis.Tests/DataFrameTests.cs
@@ -1579,6 +1579,25 @@ public void TestSample()
             Assert.Throws<ArgumentException>(()=> df.Sample(13));
         }
 
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(1, 2)]
+        [InlineData(2, 1)]
+        public void TestDataCorrectnessForInnerMerge(int leftCount, int rightCount)
+        {
+            DataFrame left = MakeDataFrameWithNumericColumns(leftCount, false);
+            DataFrameColumn leftStringColumn = new StringDataFrameColumn("String", Enumerable.Range(0, leftCount).Select(x => "Left"));
+            left.Columns.Insert(left.Columns.Count, leftStringColumn);
+
+            DataFrame right = MakeDataFrameWithNumericColumns(rightCount, false);
+            DataFrameColumn rightStringColumn = new StringDataFrameColumn("String", Enumerable.Range(0, rightCount).Select(x => "Right"));
+            right.Columns.Insert(right.Columns.Count, rightStringColumn);
+
+            DataFrame merge = left.Merge<int>(right, "Int", "Int", joinAlgorithm: JoinAlgorithm.Inner);
+
+            Assert.Equal("Left", (string)merge.Columns["String_left"][0]);
+            Assert.Equal("Right", (string)merge.Columns["String_right"][0]);
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public void TestMerge()
         {