Behind the 37-21 Margin: India's 'Unbeaten' Chant Against Chinese Taipei Is Slightly Oversized

Past midnight at the Mymensingh stadium, I saw a young man sitting with his left knee pressed in his hands, face pale after a twenty-minute match. His county team had no injury record, no reserve, and by next morning he would have to be found on the field again. That afternoon taught me that before a kabaddi team can win, it has to win one thing — its body. So this isn't a lifeless match report; it was written from a question that started hammering in my head after reading the 37-21 scoreline against Chinese Taipei: what exactly does this 'staying unbeaten' prove? Let me first make the game clear. The attacker — the 'raider' — enters the opponent's half and must touch someone and return while continuously chanting 'kabaddi', and if the chant breaks, the raid is void. If defenders collectively grab him and put him down, they score, and that is a tackle. If all seven players of one side are ruled out, the opponent earns two bonus points and the wiped side revives in full — the 'all out' moment is kabaddi's biggest momentum-turner. And there is a bonus line about half a metre deep in the opponent's half; if the defending side has six or more athletes on court and the raider crosses it, he earns one point — the low-risk safety valve for cautious raiders. Now let me put the scoreline on paper. India 37, Chinese Taipei 21. India led 23-11 at half-time, having all-outed Taipei twice. India all-outed them three times across the match, claiming six points there. But the most important line of this score is one India did not concede — Taipei never all-outed India. That means India held a full seven-man unit from first second to last, and its own defense never properly collapsed. That is not a small thing. Yet the maths needs turning over. India managed only 3 bonus points; the rest came from touches and tackles. Of Taipei's 21, nine came from the bonus line — roughly 43 percent. Two Super Tackles sit inside that total, worth double when the defense is down to three or fewer. Of those 21 points, all-out points are zero. So the question rises: India's win has 'victory' in it, but if those nine cautious points had not been there, the score might have been 37-12, so would the win have looked as shiny then? In my view, this match was good practice for India, and little more. Of the 37 points, 28 came from touches and tackles — raiders went deep and found them, not standing at the bonus line. But three all-outs mean long sustained pressure, while being caught twice in Super Tackles means the raiders failed to close the deal even against a three-man defense. Those two Super Tackles are a small but real crack in India's raiding — visible not just on paper but in the play itself. Chinese Taipei's strategy was clear — survive, nothing more. Instead of stepping out to the bonus line, they took the low-risk point. Chung-mao Chang's ankle hold flared once, two Super Tackles arrived, but their raiders never showed the courage to go deep into India's corner pairing of Rahul Sethpal and Aslam Inamdar. Here is where I differ. Putting Inamdar — usually known as an all-rounder and raiding partner — into the corner is not only a selection decision; it is a small hint of a cultural shift in Indian kabaddi. The team is trusting all-rounders rather than specialist defenders. I do not have the national squad sheet in hand, so I will not state this strongly — only as an observation. And bringing Devank Dalal and Ayan Lohchab on in the second half to 'find touches and hold the advantage' — if that is not strategic, what is? The semi-final is close. Letting India's raiders rest a little, protecting the team's strength, is the moral calculation. But I do not know whether anyone picked up a knock — injury news is absent from this report. In a high-contact sport that is a big gap. Now to my hot take. In Asian Games history I have no memory of a 37-21 scoreline for India — I see this kind of score only in this one match, and this kind of single win is possible only against Taipei. Yet the biggest message of this match is Taipei's 21. A non-South-Asian side scored against a team like India — that is testimony keeping kabaddi's international weave alive. Many count kabaddi as dying, but sides like Taipei are proving kabaddi's days internationally are not over. Still, one fundamental sentence must be written: after this win I will not test India through this match alone. The semi-final against Iran is where the real India will be revealed. Because whether India wins or loses was never my worry — my worry is the fear that, riding the chant of this 16-point margin, they will not stumble face-down in the semi-final. Tell me, part of this 'staying unbeaten' depends on your own strength, and part depends on the opponent. In the 19th minute, Taipei's raiders decided not to take a risk. Will your team do the same?