Asian Games 2018, Men's Kabaddi: India vs Thailand - 5 Talking Points

#5 Even in victory, issues persist for India

India's win was not as convincing as they expected it to be. (Photo: OCA)

India may have very well won this game. The scoreline will show you that the winning margin was 19 points.

But in reality, this match wasn't that easy of an outing for the Indians. Their performance can be described as sketchy at best.

The defence which has shown signs of weakness throughout once again was prone to silly errors. Girish Ernak made some very good tackles but was also guilty of being a little too impatient and overambitious at times. Likewise, with Sandeep Narwal and in general the defensive unit seemed to lack some coherence.

Rahul Chaudhari was very good today, but the other raiders were decent without being great. Pardeep picked up a lot of points, but in singles. There were no multi-point raids from him tonight. And what will be a point of concern is how often the raiders are running into the opposition defence's open arms consistently. The captain, Ajay Thakur is also yet to find his form.

India have to now wait to see who they get in the semis. In all likelihood, it will be Iran who are the strongest team in the competition and perhaps the greatest threat. Iran also boast perhaps the meanest defence and the raiders need to cut out some of the loose ends from their game if they are to be ready. The defence meanwhile needs much work.