diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index 7fafeac408141b..bda314c1658537 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -898,6 +898,8 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	long anchor;
 	const int hexsz = the_hash_algo->hexsz;
 
+	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
+	the_repository->settings.command_requires_full_index = 0;
 	setup_default_color_by_age();
 	git_config(git_blame_config, &output_option);
 	repo_init_revisions(the_repository, &revs, NULL);
diff --git a/t/perf/p2000-sparse-operations.sh b/t/perf/p2000-sparse-operations.sh
index 1259d22222b5cd..c08c353733ac8f 100755
--- a/t/perf/p2000-sparse-operations.sh
+++ b/t/perf/p2000-sparse-operations.sh
@@ -121,5 +121,7 @@ test_perf_on_all git update-index --add --remove
 test_perf_on_all git diff
 test_perf_on_all git diff --staged
 test_perf_on_all git sparse-checkout reapply
+test_perf_on_all git blame $SPARSE_CONE/a
+test_perf_on_all git blame $SPARSE_CONE/f3/a
 
 test_done
diff --git a/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh b/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
index 0333c4969d0a2c..d314d1da7df14e 100755
--- a/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
+++ b/t/t1092-sparse-checkout-compatibility.sh
@@ -530,9 +530,6 @@ test_expect_success 'blame with pathspec inside sparse definition' '
 	done
 '
 
-# Without a revision specified, blame will error if passed any file that
-# is not present in the working directory (even if the file is tracked).
-# Here we just verify that this is also true with sparse checkouts.
 test_expect_success 'blame with pathspec outside sparse definition' '
 	init_repos &&
 	test_sparse_match git sparse-checkout set &&
@@ -1716,6 +1713,15 @@ test_expect_success 'stash -u outside sparse checkout definition' '
 	test_all_match git status --porcelain=v2
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'sparse index is not expanded: blame' '
+	init_repos &&
+
+	ensure_not_expanded blame a &&
+	ensure_not_expanded blame deep/a &&
+	ensure_not_expanded blame deep/deeper1/a &&
+	ensure_not_expanded blame deep/deeper1/deepest/a
+'
+
 # NEEDSWORK: a sparse-checkout behaves differently from a full checkout
 # in this scenario, but it shouldn't.
 test_expect_success 'reset mixed and checkout orphan' '