diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/exchange/EnsureRequirements.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/exchange/EnsureRequirements.scala
index 42c880e7c626..ee0ea11816f9 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/exchange/EnsureRequirements.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/exchange/EnsureRequirements.scala
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ case class EnsureRequirements(
   private def createKeyGroupedShuffleSpec(
       partitioning: Partitioning,
       distribution: ClusteredDistribution): Option[KeyGroupedShuffleSpec] = {
-    def check(partitioning: KeyGroupedPartitioning): Option[KeyGroupedShuffleSpec] = {
+    def tryCreate(partitioning: KeyGroupedPartitioning): Option[KeyGroupedShuffleSpec] = {
       val attributes = partitioning.expressions.flatMap(_.collectLeaves())
       val clustering = distribution.clustering
 
@@ -570,11 +570,10 @@ case class EnsureRequirements(
     }
 
     partitioning match {
-      case p: KeyGroupedPartitioning => check(p)
+      case p: KeyGroupedPartitioning => tryCreate(p)
       case PartitioningCollection(partitionings) =>
         val specs = partitionings.map(p => createKeyGroupedShuffleSpec(p, distribution))
-        assert(specs.forall(_.isEmpty) || specs.forall(_.isDefined))
-        specs.head
+        specs.filter(_.isDefined).map(_.get).headOption
       case _ => None
     }
   }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/KeyGroupedPartitioningSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/KeyGroupedPartitioningSuite.scala
index 6b07c77aefb6..71e030f535e9 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/KeyGroupedPartitioningSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/connector/KeyGroupedPartitioningSuite.scala
@@ -330,6 +330,28 @@ class KeyGroupedPartitioningSuite extends DistributionAndOrderingSuiteBase {
       .add("price", FloatType)
       .add("time", TimestampType)
 
+  test("SPARK-49179: Fix v2 multi bucketed inner joins throw AssertionError") {
+    val cols = new StructType()
+      .add("id", LongType)
+      .add("name", StringType)
+    val buckets = Array(bucket(8, "id"))
+
+    withTable("t1", "t2", "t3") {
+      Seq("t1", "t2", "t3").foreach { t =>
+        createTable(t, cols, buckets)
+        sql(s"INSERT INTO testcat.ns.$t VALUES (1, 'aa'), (2, 'bb'), (3, 'cc')")
+      }
+      val df = sql(
+        """
+          |SELECT t1.id, t2.id, t3.name FROM testcat.ns.t1
+          |JOIN testcat.ns.t2 ON t1.id = t2.id
+          |JOIN testcat.ns.t3 ON t1.id = t3.id
+          |""".stripMargin)
+      checkAnswer(df, Seq(Row(1, 1, "aa"), Row(2, 2, "bb"), Row(3, 3, "cc")))
+      assert(collectShuffles(df.queryExecution.executedPlan).isEmpty)
+    }
+  }
+
   test("partitioned join: join with two partition keys and matching & sorted partitions") {
     val items_partitions = Array(bucket(8, "id"), days("arrive_time"))
     createTable(items, items_schema, items_partitions)