diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/Cast.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/Cast.scala
index b1e89b5de833..a12fba047b3d 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/Cast.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/Cast.scala
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ object Cast {
     case (DateType, TimestampType) => true
     case (_: NumericType, TimestampType) => true
 
-    case (_, DateType) => true
+    case (StringType, DateType) => true
+    case (TimestampType, DateType) => true
 
     case (StringType, CalendarIntervalType) => true
 
@@ -228,18 +229,12 @@ case class Cast(child: Expression, dataType: DataType) extends UnaryExpression w
       // throw valid precision more than seconds, according to Hive.
       // Timestamp.nanos is in 0 to 999,999,999, no more than a second.
       buildCast[Long](_, t => DateTimeUtils.millisToDays(t / 1000L))
-    // Hive throws this exception as a Semantic Exception
-    // It is never possible to compare result when hive return with exception,
-    // so we can return null
-    // NULL is more reasonable here, since the query itself obeys the grammar.
-    case _ => _ => null
   }
 
   // IntervalConverter
   private[this] def castToInterval(from: DataType): Any => Any = from match {
     case StringType =>
       buildCast[UTF8String](_, s => CalendarInterval.fromString(s.toString))
-    case _ => _ => null
   }
 
   // LongConverter
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CastSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CastSuite.scala
index dfda7c50f2c0..5ae0527a9c7a 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CastSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/CastSuite.scala
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ class CastSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
     checkNullCast(DateType, TimestampType)
     numericTypes.foreach(dt => checkNullCast(dt, TimestampType))
 
-    atomicTypes.foreach(dt => checkNullCast(dt, DateType))
+    checkNullCast(StringType, DateType)
+    checkNullCast(TimestampType, DateType)
 
     checkNullCast(StringType, CalendarIntervalType)
     numericTypes.foreach(dt => checkNullCast(StringType, dt))
@@ -366,7 +367,6 @@ class CastSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
     checkEvaluation(cast("2012-12-11", DoubleType), null)
     checkEvaluation(cast(123, IntegerType), 123)
 
-
     checkEvaluation(cast(Literal.create(null, IntegerType), ShortType), null)
   }
 
@@ -783,4 +783,16 @@ class CastSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper {
     checkEvaluation(cast("abc", BooleanType), null)
     checkEvaluation(cast("", BooleanType), null)
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-16729 type checking for casting to date type") {
+    assert(cast("1234", DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isSuccess)
+    assert(cast(new Timestamp(1), DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isSuccess)
+    assert(cast(false, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1.toByte, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1.toShort, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1L, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1.0.toFloat, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+    assert(cast(1.0, DateType).checkInputDataTypes().isFailure)
+  }
 }