diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/DefaultIndexOperations.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/DefaultIndexOperations.java
index 535092bbb..a09e25418 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/DefaultIndexOperations.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/DefaultIndexOperations.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2011 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2011-2013 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.data.mongodb.core;
 
+import static org.springframework.data.domain.Sort.Direction.*;
+
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -22,7 +24,6 @@ import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException;
 import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.index.IndexDefinition;
 import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.index.IndexField;
 import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.index.IndexInfo;
-import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.query.Order;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 
 import com.mongodb.DBCollection;
@@ -34,9 +35,13 @@ import com.mongodb.MongoException;
  * 
  * @author Mark Pollack
  * @author Oliver Gierke
+ * @author Komi Innocent
  */
 public class DefaultIndexOperations implements IndexOperations {
 
+	private static final Double ONE = Double.valueOf(1);
+	private static final Double MINUS_ONE = Double.valueOf(-1);
+
 	private final MongoOperations mongoOperations;
 	private final String collectionName;
 
@@ -135,12 +140,17 @@ public class DefaultIndexOperations implements IndexOperations {
 
 						Object value = keyDbObject.get(key);
 
-						if (Integer.valueOf(1).equals(value)) {
-							indexFields.add(IndexField.create(key, Order.ASCENDING));
-						} else if (Integer.valueOf(-1).equals(value)) {
-							indexFields.add(IndexField.create(key, Order.DESCENDING));
-						} else if ("2d".equals(value)) {
+						if ("2d".equals(value)) {
 							indexFields.add(IndexField.geo(key));
+						} else {
+
+							Double keyValue = new Double(value.toString());
+
+							if (ONE.equals(keyValue)) {
+								indexFields.add(IndexField.create(key, ASC));
+							} else if (MINUS_ONE.equals(keyValue)) {
+								indexFields.add(IndexField.create(key, DESC));
+							}
 						}
 					}
 
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplateTests.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplateTests.java
index febdcdf60..f3e1b0338 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplateTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplateTests.java
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ import com.mongodb.WriteResult;
  * @author Amol Nayak
  * @author Patryk Wasik
  * @author Thomas Darimont
+ * @author Komi Innocent
  */
 @RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
 @ContextConfiguration("classpath:infrastructure.xml")
@@ -333,6 +334,43 @@ public class MongoTemplateTests {
 		assertThat(field, is(IndexField.create("age", Direction.DESC)));
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAMONGO-746
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void testReadIndexInfoForIndicesCreatedViaMongoShellCommands() throws Exception {
+
+		String command = "db." + template.getCollectionName(Person.class)
+				+ ".ensureIndex({'age':-1}, {'unique':true, 'sparse':true})";
+		template.indexOps(Person.class).dropAllIndexes();
+
+		assertThat(template.indexOps(Person.class).getIndexInfo().isEmpty(), is(true));
+		factory.getDb().eval(command);
+
+		List<DBObject> indexInfo = template.getCollection(template.getCollectionName(Person.class)).getIndexInfo();
+		String indexKey = null;
+		boolean unique = false;
+
+		for (DBObject ix : indexInfo) {
+			if ("age_-1".equals(ix.get("name"))) {
+				indexKey = ix.get("key").toString();
+				unique = (Boolean) ix.get("unique");
+			}
+		}
+
+		assertThat(indexKey, is("{ \"age\" : -1.0}"));
+		assertThat(unique, is(true));
+
+		IndexInfo info = template.indexOps(Person.class).getIndexInfo().get(1);
+		assertThat(info.isUnique(), is(true));
+		assertThat(info.isSparse(), is(true));
+
+		List<IndexField> indexFields = info.getIndexFields();
+		IndexField field = indexFields.get(0);
+
+		assertThat(field, is(IndexField.create("age", Direction.DESC)));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testProperHandlingOfDifferentIdTypesWithMappingMongoConverter() throws Exception {
 		testProperHandlingOfDifferentIdTypes(this.mappingTemplate);