diff --git a/plugin/trino-pinot/src/main/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/client/PinotClient.java b/plugin/trino-pinot/src/main/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/client/PinotClient.java
index e7f5159e8751..62d5b786dd47 100755
--- a/plugin/trino-pinot/src/main/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/client/PinotClient.java
+++ b/plugin/trino-pinot/src/main/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/client/PinotClient.java
@@ -499,7 +499,8 @@ public static ResultsIterator fromResultTable(BrokerResponseNative brokerRespons
         int[] indices = new int[columnNames.length];
         int[] inverseIndices = new int[columnNames.length];
         for (int i = 0; i < columnHandles.size(); i++) {
-            indices[i] = columnIndices.get(columnHandles.get(i).getColumnName().toLowerCase(ENGLISH));
+            String columnName = columnHandles.get(i).getColumnName().toLowerCase(ENGLISH);
+            indices[i] = requireNonNull(columnIndices.get(columnName), format("column index for '%s' was not found", columnName));
             inverseIndices[indices[i]] = i;
         }
         List<Object[]> rows = resultTable.getRows();
diff --git a/plugin/trino-pinot/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/TestPinotIntegrationSmokeTest.java b/plugin/trino-pinot/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/TestPinotIntegrationSmokeTest.java
index c3aa7d6be8cc..3593f269dddb 100644
--- a/plugin/trino-pinot/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/TestPinotIntegrationSmokeTest.java
+++ b/plugin/trino-pinot/src/test/java/io/trino/plugin/pinot/TestPinotIntegrationSmokeTest.java
@@ -1603,7 +1603,7 @@ public void testPassthroughQueriesWithPushdowns()
                         "  FROM " + ALL_TYPES_TABLE +
                         "  WHERE string_col IS NOT null AND string_col != 'array_null'\""))
                 .withRootCauseInstanceOf(RuntimeException.class)
-                .withMessage("java.lang.NullPointerException");
+                .withMessage("column index for 'int_col2' was not found");
 
         assertThat(query("SELECT int_col2, count(*) FROM " +
                 "\"SELECT int_col AS int_col2, long_col AS long_col2" +