diff --git a/cache-tree.c b/cache-tree.c
index 950a961..11bf1fc 100644
--- a/cache-tree.c
+++ b/cache-tree.c
@@ -808,6 +808,19 @@ int cache_tree_matches_traversal(struct cache_tree *root,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void verify_one_sparse(struct repository *r,
+			      struct index_state *istate,
+			      struct cache_tree *it,
+			      struct strbuf *path,
+			      int pos)
+{
+	struct cache_entry *ce = istate->cache[pos];
+
+	if (!S_ISSPARSEDIR(ce->ce_mode))
+		BUG("directory '%s' is present in index, but not sparse",
+		    path->buf);
+}
+
 static void verify_one(struct repository *r,
 		       struct index_state *istate,
 		       struct cache_tree *it,
@@ -830,6 +843,12 @@ static void verify_one(struct repository *r,
 
 	if (path->len) {
 		pos = index_name_pos(istate, path->buf, path->len);
+
+		if (pos >= 0) {
+			verify_one_sparse(r, istate, it, path, pos);
+			return;
+		}
+
 		pos = -pos - 1;
 	} else {
 		pos = 0;