diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/plans/physical/partitioning.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/plans/physical/partitioning.scala
index ccb0df113c063..3ed83f04039b7 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/plans/physical/partitioning.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/plans/physical/partitioning.scala
@@ -58,6 +58,20 @@ case class ClusteredDistribution(clustering: Seq[Expression]) extends Distributi
       "a single partition.")
 }
 
+/**
+ * Represents data where tuples that share the same values for the `clustering`
+ * [[Expression Expressions]] will be co-located. Based on the context, this
+ * can mean such tuples are either co-located in the same partition or they will be contiguous
+ * within a single partition.
+ */
+case class ClusteredOrderedDistribution(clustering: Seq[Expression]) extends Distribution {
+  require(
+    clustering != Nil,
+    "The clustering expressions of a ClusteredOrderedDistribution should not be Nil. " +
+      "An AllTuples should be used to represent a distribution that only has " +
+      "a single partition.")
+}
+
 /**
  * Represents data where tuples have been ordered according to the `ordering`
  * [[Expression Expressions]].  This is a strictly stronger guarantee than
@@ -162,6 +176,37 @@ case class HashPartitioning(expressions: Seq[Expression], numPartitions: Int)
     throw new TreeNodeException(this, s"No function to evaluate expression. type: ${this.nodeName}")
 }
 
+/**
+ * Represents a partitioning where rows are split up across partitions based on the hash
+ * of `expressions`.  All rows where `expressions` evaluate to the same values are guaranteed to be
+ * in the same partition. In each partition, the keys are sorted according to expressions
+ */
+case class HashSortedPartitioning(expressions: Seq[Expression], numPartitions: Int)
+  extends Expression
+  with Partitioning {
+
+  override def children = expressions
+  override def nullable = false
+  override def dataType = IntegerType
+
+  private[this] lazy val clusteringSet = expressions.toSet
+
+  override def satisfies(required: Distribution): Boolean = required match {
+    case UnspecifiedDistribution => true
+    case ClusteredOrderedDistribution(requiredClustering) =>
+      clusteringSet.subsetOf(requiredClustering.toSet)
+    case _ => false
+  }
+
+  override def compatibleWith(other: Partitioning) = other match {
+    case BroadcastPartitioning => true
+    case h: HashSortedPartitioning if h == this => true
+    case _ => false
+  }
+
+  override def eval(input: Row = null): EvaluatedType =
+    throw new TreeNodeException(this, s"No function to evaluate expression. type: ${this.nodeName}")
+}
 /**
  * Represents a partitioning where rows are split across partitions based on some total ordering of
  * the expressions specified in `ordering`.  When data is partitioned in this manner the following
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/Exchange.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/Exchange.scala
index 927f40063e47e..443266725ea05 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/Exchange.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/Exchange.scala
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.rdd.ShuffledRDD
 import org.apache.spark.sql.{SQLContext, Row}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.errors.attachTree
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.RowOrdering
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.physical._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.rules.Rule
 import org.apache.spark.util.MutablePair
@@ -57,11 +58,33 @@ case class Exchange(newPartitioning: Partitioning, child: SparkPlan) extends Una
             iter.map(r => mutablePair.update(hashExpressions(r), r))
           }
         }
+        
         val part = new HashPartitioner(numPartitions)
         val shuffled = new ShuffledRDD[Row, Row, Row](rdd, part)
         shuffled.setSerializer(new SparkSqlSerializer(new SparkConf(false)))
         shuffled.map(_._2)
 
+      case HashSortedPartitioning(expressions, numPartitions) =>
+        val rdd = if (sortBasedShuffleOn) {
+          child.execute().mapPartitions { iter =>
+            val hashExpressions = newProjection(expressions, child.output)
+            iter.map(r => (hashExpressions(r), r.copy()))
+          }
+        } else {
+          child.execute().mapPartitions { iter =>
+            val hashExpressions = newMutableProjection(expressions, child.output)()
+            val mutablePair = new MutablePair[Row, Row]()
+            iter.map(r => mutablePair.update(hashExpressions(r), r))
+          }
+        }
+        
+        val sortingExpressions = expressions.map(s => new SortOrder(s, Ascending))
+        implicit val ordering = new RowOrdering(sortingExpressions, child.output)
+        val part = new HashPartitioner(numPartitions)
+        val shuffled = new ShuffledRDD[Row, Row, Row](rdd, part).setKeyOrdering(ordering)
+        shuffled.setSerializer(new SparkSqlSerializer(new SparkConf(false)))
+        shuffled.map(_._2)
+
       case RangePartitioning(sortingExpressions, numPartitions) =>
         val rdd = if (sortBasedShuffleOn) {
           child.execute().mapPartitions { iter => iter.map(row => (row.copy(), null))}
@@ -158,6 +181,8 @@ private[sql] case class AddExchange(sqlContext: SQLContext) extends Rule[SparkPl
             addExchangeIfNecessary(SinglePartition, child)
           case (ClusteredDistribution(clustering), child) =>
             addExchangeIfNecessary(HashPartitioning(clustering, numPartitions), child)
+          case (ClusteredOrderedDistribution(clustering), child) =>
+            addExchangeIfNecessary(HashSortedPartitioning(clustering, numPartitions), child)
           case (OrderedDistribution(ordering), child) =>
             addExchangeIfNecessary(RangePartitioning(ordering, numPartitions), child)
           case (UnspecifiedDistribution, child) => child
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
index cc7e0c05ffc70..03db6d1126519 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/SparkStrategies.scala
@@ -84,15 +84,19 @@ private[sql] abstract class SparkStrategies extends QueryPlanner[SparkPlan] {
           makeBroadcastHashJoin(leftKeys, rightKeys, left, right, condition, joins.BuildLeft)
 
       case ExtractEquiJoinKeys(Inner, leftKeys, rightKeys, condition, left, right) =>
-        val buildSide =
-          if (right.statistics.sizeInBytes <= left.statistics.sizeInBytes) {
-            joins.BuildRight
-          } else {
-            joins.BuildLeft
-          }
-        val hashJoin = joins.ShuffledHashJoin(
-          leftKeys, rightKeys, buildSide, planLater(left), planLater(right))
-        condition.map(Filter(_, hashJoin)).getOrElse(hashJoin) :: Nil
+        val mergeJoin = joins.MergeJoin(leftKeys, rightKeys, planLater(left), planLater(right))
+        condition.map(Filter(_, mergeJoin)).getOrElse(mergeJoin) :: Nil
+      
+      // case ExtractEquiJoinKeys(Inner, leftKeys, rightKeys, condition, left, right) =>
+      //   val buildSide =
+      //     if (right.statistics.sizeInBytes <= left.statistics.sizeInBytes) {
+      //       joins.BuildRight
+      //     } else {
+      //       joins.BuildLeft
+      //     }
+      //   val hashJoin = joins.ShuffledHashJoin(
+      //     leftKeys, rightKeys, buildSide, planLater(left), planLater(right))
+      // condition.map(Filter(_, hashJoin)).getOrElse(hashJoin) :: Nil
 
       case ExtractEquiJoinKeys(joinType, leftKeys, rightKeys, condition, left, right) =>
         joins.HashOuterJoin(
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/joins/MergeJoin.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/joins/MergeJoin.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..2ca9541ccc307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/joins/MergeJoin.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.sql.execution.joins
+
+import org.apache.spark.annotation.DeveloperApi
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.physical.{ClusteredOrderedDistribution, Partitioning}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.{BinaryNode, SparkPlan}
+import org.apache.spark.util.collection.CompactBuffer
+/* : Developer Api : 
+ * Performs sort-merge join of two child relations by first shuffling the data using the join
+ * keys. Also, when shuffling the data, sort the data by join keys. 
+*/
+@DeveloperApi
+case class MergeJoin(
+  leftKeys: Seq[Expression],
+  rightKeys: Seq[Expression],
+  left: SparkPlan,
+  right: SparkPlan
+) extends BinaryNode {
+  // Implementation: the tricky part is handling duplicate join keys.
+  // To handle duplicate keys, we use a buffer to store all matching elements 
+  // in right iterator for a certain join key. The buffer is used for 
+  // generating join tuples when the join key of the next left element is 
+  // the same as the current join key. 
+  // TODO: add outer join support
+  override def outputPartitioning: Partitioning = left.outputPartitioning
+  
+  override def output = left.output ++ right.output
+
+  private val orders = leftKeys.map(s => SortOrder(s, Ascending))
+
+  override def requiredChildDistribution =
+    ClusteredOrderedDistribution(leftKeys) :: ClusteredOrderedDistribution(rightKeys) :: Nil
+
+  @transient protected lazy val leftKeyGenerator: Projection =
+    newProjection(leftKeys, left.output)
+
+  @transient protected lazy val rightKeyGenerator: Projection =
+    newProjection(rightKeys, right.output)
+
+  private val ordering = new RowOrdering(orders, left.output)
+
+  override def execute() = {
+    
+    left.execute().zipPartitions(right.execute()) { (leftIter, rightIter) => 
+      new Iterator[Row] {
+        private[this] val joinRow = new JoinedRow2
+        private[this] var leftElement:Row = _
+        private[this] var rightElement:Row = _
+        private[this] var leftKey:Row = _
+        private[this] var rightKey:Row = _
+        private[this] var buffer:CompactBuffer[Row] = _
+        private[this] var index = -1
+        private[this] var last = false
+        
+        // initialize iterator  
+        private def initialize() = {
+          if (leftIter.hasNext) {
+            leftElement = leftIter.next()
+            leftKey = leftKeyGenerator(leftElement)
+          } else {
+            last = true
+          }
+          if (rightIter.hasNext) {
+            rightElement = rightIter.next()
+            rightKey = rightKeyGenerator(rightElement)
+          } else {
+            last = true
+          }
+        }     
+
+        initialize()
+
+        override final def hasNext: Boolean = {
+          // Two cases that hasNext returns true
+          // 1. We are iterating the buffer
+          // 2. We can find tuple pairs that have matching join key
+          // 
+          // hasNext is stateless as nextMatchingPair() is called when
+          // index == -1 and will set index to 0 when nextMatchingPair() 
+          // returns true. Muptiple calls to hasNext modifies iterator
+          // state at most once. 
+          if (index != -1) return true
+          if (last) return false
+          return nextMatchingPair()
+        }
+        
+        override final def next(): Row = {
+          if (index == -1) {
+            // We need this becasue the client of the join iterator may 
+            // call next() without calling hasNext 
+            if (!hasNext) return null
+          }
+          val joinedRow = joinRow(leftElement, buffer(index))
+          index += 1
+          if (index == buffer.size) {
+            // finished iterating the buffer, fetch
+            // next element from left iterator
+            if (leftIter.hasNext) {
+              // fetch next element 
+              val leftElem = leftElement
+              val leftK = leftKeyGenerator(leftElem)
+              leftElement = leftIter.next()
+              leftKey = leftKeyGenerator(leftElement)
+              if (ordering.compare(leftKey,leftK) == 0) {
+                // need to go over the buffer again
+                // as we have the same join key for 
+                // next left element
+                index = 0
+              } else {
+                // need to find a matching element from
+                // right iterator
+                index = -1
+              }
+            } else {
+              // no next left element, we are done
+              index = -1
+              last = true
+            }
+          }
+          joinedRow
+        }
+
+        // find the next pair of left/right tuples that have a
+        // matching join key
+        private def nextMatchingPair(): Boolean = {
+          while (ordering.compare(leftKey, rightKey) != 0) {
+            if (ordering.compare(leftKey, rightKey) < 0) {
+              if (leftIter.hasNext) {
+                leftElement = leftIter.next()
+                leftKey = leftKeyGenerator(leftElement)
+              } else {
+                last = true
+                return false
+              }
+            } else {
+              if (rightIter.hasNext) {
+                rightElement = rightIter.next()
+                rightKey = rightKeyGenerator(rightElement)
+              } else {
+                last = true
+                return false
+              }
+            }
+          }
+          // outer == inner
+          index = 0
+          buffer = null
+          buffer = new CompactBuffer[Row]()
+          buffer += rightElement
+          val rightElem = rightElement
+          val rightK = rightKeyGenerator(rightElem)
+          while(rightIter.hasNext) {
+            rightElement = rightIter.next()
+            rightKey = rightKeyGenerator(rightElement)
+            if (ordering.compare(rightKey,rightK) == 0) {
+              buffer += rightElement
+            } else {
+              return true
+            }
+          }
+          true
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/JoinSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/JoinSuite.scala
index 8b4cf5bac0187..22c1dd482c36c 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/JoinSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/JoinSuite.scala
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class JoinSuite extends QueryTest with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       case j: LeftSemiJoinBNL => j
       case j: CartesianProduct => j
       case j: BroadcastNestedLoopJoin => j
+      case j: MergeJoin => j
     }
 
     assert(operators.size === 1)
@@ -72,9 +73,9 @@ class JoinSuite extends QueryTest with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       ("SELECT * FROM testData FULL OUTER JOIN testData2 WHERE key = 2", classOf[CartesianProduct]),
       ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 WHERE key > a", classOf[CartesianProduct]),
       ("SELECT * FROM testData FULL OUTER JOIN testData2 WHERE key > a", classOf[CartesianProduct]),
-      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a", classOf[ShuffledHashJoin]),
-      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a and key = 2", classOf[ShuffledHashJoin]),
-      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a where key = 2", classOf[ShuffledHashJoin]),
+      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a", classOf[MergeJoin]),
+      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a and key = 2", classOf[MergeJoin]),
+      ("SELECT * FROM testData JOIN testData2 ON key = a where key = 2", classOf[MergeJoin]),
       ("SELECT * FROM testData LEFT JOIN testData2 ON key = a", classOf[HashOuterJoin]),
       ("SELECT * FROM testData RIGHT JOIN testData2 ON key = a where key = 2",
         classOf[HashOuterJoin]),