diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/IR/SparseTensorDialect.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/IR/SparseTensorDialect.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/IR/SparseTensorDialect.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/IR/SparseTensorDialect.cpp
@@ -214,9 +214,9 @@
 }
 
 static LogicalResult verify(ToPointersOp op) {
-  if (failed(isInBounds(op.dim(), op.tensor())))
-    return op.emitError("requested pointers dimension out of bounds");
   if (auto e = getSparseTensorEncoding(op.tensor().getType())) {
+    if (failed(isInBounds(op.dim(), op.tensor())))
+      return op.emitError("requested pointers dimension out of bounds");
     if (failed(isMatchingWidth(op.result(), e.getPointerBitWidth())))
       return op.emitError("unexpected type for pointers");
     return success();
@@ -225,9 +225,9 @@
 }
 
 static LogicalResult verify(ToIndicesOp op) {
-  if (failed(isInBounds(op.dim(), op.tensor())))
-    return op.emitError("requested indices dimension out of bounds");
   if (auto e = getSparseTensorEncoding(op.tensor().getType())) {
+    if (failed(isInBounds(op.dim(), op.tensor())))
+      return op.emitError("requested indices dimension out of bounds");
     if (failed(isMatchingWidth(op.result(), e.getIndexBitWidth())))
       return op.emitError("unexpected type for indices");
     return success();
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/SparseTensor/invalid.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/SparseTensor/invalid.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/SparseTensor/invalid.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/SparseTensor/invalid.mlir
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@
 
 // -----
 
+func @invalid_pointers_unranked(%arg0: tensor<*xf64>) -> memref<?xindex> {
+  %c = constant 0 : index
+  // expected-error@+1 {{expected a sparse tensor to get pointers}}
+  %0 = sparse_tensor.pointers %arg0, %c : tensor<*xf64> to memref<?xindex>
+  return %0 : memref<?xindex>
+}
+
+// -----
+
 #SparseVector = #sparse_tensor.encoding<{dimLevelType = ["compressed"], pointerBitWidth=32}>
 
 func @mismatch_pointers_types(%arg0: tensor<128xf64, #SparseVector>) -> memref<?xindex> {
@@ -48,6 +57,15 @@
 
 // -----
 
+func @invalid_indices_unranked(%arg0: tensor<*xf64>) -> memref<?xindex> {
+  %c = constant 0 : index
+  // expected-error@+1 {{expected a sparse tensor to get indices}}
+  %0 = sparse_tensor.indices %arg0, %c : tensor<*xf64> to memref<?xindex>
+  return %0 : memref<?xindex>
+}
+
+// -----
+
 #SparseVector = #sparse_tensor.encoding<{dimLevelType = ["compressed"]}>
 
 func @mismatch_indices_types(%arg0: tensor<?xf64, #SparseVector>) -> memref<?xi32> {