diff --git a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/HoodieAvroRecordMerger.java b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/HoodieAvroRecordMerger.java
index 7b141e3da5e0c..fa773d40f6efb 100644
--- a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/HoodieAvroRecordMerger.java
+++ b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/HoodieAvroRecordMerger.java
@@ -54,9 +54,6 @@ public HoodieRecordType getRecordType() {
   }
 
   private Option<IndexedRecord> combineAndGetUpdateValue(HoodieRecord older, HoodieRecord newer, Schema schema, Properties props) throws IOException {
-    if (newer.isDelete(schema, props)) {
-      return Option.empty();
-    }
     Option<IndexedRecord> previousAvroData = older.toIndexedRecord(schema, props).map(HoodieAvroIndexedRecord::getData);
     if (!previousAvroData.isPresent()) {
       return Option.empty();
diff --git a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/OverwriteWithLatestMerger.java b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/OverwriteWithLatestMerger.java
index bfa312eb2dcfe..9f535f9492142 100644
--- a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/OverwriteWithLatestMerger.java
+++ b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/model/OverwriteWithLatestMerger.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
  * Avro Merger that always chooses the newer record
  */
 public class OverwriteWithLatestMerger implements HoodieRecordMerger {
+  public static final OverwriteWithLatestMerger INSTANCE = new OverwriteWithLatestMerger();
 
   @Override
   public Option<Pair<HoodieRecord, Schema>> merge(HoodieRecord older,
diff --git a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/util/HoodieRecordUtils.java b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/util/HoodieRecordUtils.java
index 601aceceb7658..0393a0ad1d602 100644
--- a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/util/HoodieRecordUtils.java
+++ b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/util/HoodieRecordUtils.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import org.apache.hudi.common.model.HoodieRecordMerger;
 import org.apache.hudi.common.model.HoodieRecordPayload;
 import org.apache.hudi.common.model.OperationModeAwareness;
+import org.apache.hudi.common.model.OverwriteWithLatestMerger;
 import org.apache.hudi.exception.HoodieException;
 import org.apache.hudi.metadata.HoodieTableMetadata;
 
@@ -76,11 +77,14 @@ public static HoodieRecordMerger loadRecordMerger(String mergerClass) {
    */
   public static HoodieRecordMerger createRecordMerger(String basePath, EngineType engineType,
                                                       List<String> mergerClassList, String recordMergerStrategy) {
+    HoodieRecordMerger defaultMerger = recordMergerStrategy.equals(HoodieRecordMerger.DEFAULT_MERGE_STRATEGY_UUID)
+        ? HoodieAvroRecordMerger.INSTANCE : OverwriteWithLatestMerger.INSTANCE;
+
     if (mergerClassList.isEmpty() || HoodieTableMetadata.isMetadataTable(basePath)) {
-      return HoodieAvroRecordMerger.INSTANCE;
+      return defaultMerger;
     } else {
       return createValidRecordMerger(engineType, mergerClassList, recordMergerStrategy)
-          .orElse(HoodieAvroRecordMerger.INSTANCE);
+          .orElse(defaultMerger);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/hudi-spark-datasource/hudi-spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/hudi/TestCustomDeleteRecord.scala b/hudi-spark-datasource/hudi-spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/hudi/TestCustomDeleteRecord.scala
index 2b55183f5b962..868e6cec270da 100644
--- a/hudi-spark-datasource/hudi-spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/hudi/TestCustomDeleteRecord.scala
+++ b/hudi-spark-datasource/hudi-spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/hudi/TestCustomDeleteRecord.scala
@@ -42,37 +42,36 @@ class TestCustomDeleteRecord extends SparkClientFunctionalTestHarness {
   @ParameterizedTest
   @MethodSource(Array("provideParams"))
   def testCustomDelete(useFgReader: String,
-                      tableType: String,
-                      recordType: String,
-                      positionUsed: String,
-                      mergeMode: String): Unit = {
-    val mergeClasses = List(
+                       tableType: String,
+                       recordType: String,
+                       positionUsed: String,
+                       mergeMode: String): Unit = {
+    val sparkMergeClasses = List(
       classOf[DefaultSparkRecordMerger].getName,
-      classOf[OverwriteWithLatestSparkRecordMerger].getName,
+      classOf[OverwriteWithLatestSparkRecordMerger].getName).mkString(",")
+    val avroMergerClasses = List(
       classOf[HoodieAvroRecordMerger].getName,
-      classOf[OverwriteWithLatestMerger].getName
-    ).mkString(",")
+      classOf[OverwriteWithLatestMerger].getName).mkString(",")
+
     val mergeStrategy = if (mergeMode.equals(RecordMergeMode.EVENT_TIME_ORDERING.name)) {
       HoodieRecordMerger.DEFAULT_MERGE_STRATEGY_UUID
     } else {
       HoodieRecordMerger.COMMIT_TIME_BASED_MERGE_STRATEGY_UUID
     }
-    val sparkOpts: Map[String, String] = Map(
+    val mergeOpts: Map[String, String] = Map(
       HoodieStorageConfig.LOGFILE_DATA_BLOCK_FORMAT.key -> "parquet",
-      HoodieWriteConfig.RECORD_MERGE_IMPL_CLASSES.key -> mergeClasses,
+      HoodieWriteConfig.RECORD_MERGE_IMPL_CLASSES.key ->
+        (if (recordType.equals("SPARK")) sparkMergeClasses else avroMergerClasses),
       HoodieWriteConfig.RECORD_MERGE_STRATEGY_ID.key -> mergeStrategy)
     val fgReaderOpts: Map[String, String] = Map(
       HoodieReaderConfig.FILE_GROUP_READER_ENABLED.key -> useFgReader,
       HoodieReaderConfig.MERGE_USE_RECORD_POSITIONS.key -> positionUsed,
-      HoodieWriteConfig.RECORD_MERGE_MODE.key -> mergeMode)
+      HoodieWriteConfig.RECORD_MERGE_MODE.key -> mergeMode
+    )
     val deleteOpts: Map[String, String] = Map(
       DELETE_KEY -> "delete",
       DELETE_MARKER -> "d")
-    val opts = if (recordType.equals("SPARK")) {
-      sparkOpts ++ fgReaderOpts ++ deleteOpts
-    } else {
-      fgReaderOpts ++ deleteOpts
-    }
+    val opts = mergeOpts ++ fgReaderOpts ++ deleteOpts
     val columns = Seq("ts", "key", "rider", "driver", "fare", "delete")
 
     val data = Seq(
@@ -130,13 +129,22 @@ object TestCustomDeleteRecord {
   def provideParams(): java.util.List[Arguments] = {
     java.util.Arrays.asList(
       Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "AVRO", "false", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
-      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "AVRO", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
       Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "AVRO", "false", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
-      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "AVRO", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
       Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "AVRO", "false", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
-      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "AVRO", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
       Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "AVRO", "false", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
-      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"))
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "AVRO", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "false", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "false", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "COPY_ON_WRITE", "SPARK", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "false", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "true", "EVENT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "false", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING"),
+      Arguments.of("true", "MERGE_ON_READ", "SPARK", "true", "COMMIT_TIME_ORDERING")
+    )
   }
 
   def validate(expectedDf: Dataset[Row], actualDf: Dataset[Row]): Unit = {