diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/engine/rename_fields.go b/go/vt/vtgate/engine/rename_fields.go
index 9983c5036e1..b45ea04071c 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/engine/rename_fields.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/engine/rename_fields.go
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ func (r *RenameFields) Execute(vcursor VCursor, bindVars map[string]*querypb.Bin
 }
 
 func (r *RenameFields) renameFields(qr *sqltypes.Result) {
+	if len(r.Indices) != len(qr.Fields) {
+		return
+	}
 	for ind, index := range r.Indices {
 		colName := r.Cols[ind]
 		qr.Fields[index].Name = colName