Guide, Kabaddi
How kabaddi scoring works: raids, tackles, all-outs and bonus points
A plain guide to kabaddi scores: touch and bonus points, tackles and super tackles, all-outs, revivals, do-or-die raids and the Pro Kabaddi points table.
By Editorial team. Published .
A kabaddi score like 38-31 is built from two kinds of points: points won by raiding into the other half, and points won by defending against the other side's raiders. Every point also brings a player back into the game, which is why scores can swing so fast.
The basics
Each team has seven players on the court. Teams take turns sending one raider into the opponents' half, while the other side defends. In the Pro Kabaddi League a raid lasts up to 30 seconds, and a match is two halves of 20 minutes with a short break between them.
A defender touched by a successful raider is out and leaves the court. So is a raider who is caught. Out players wait at the side until their team earns a revival.
Raid points
- Touch points. The raider scores one point for each defender they touch, as long as they get back to their own half. Touch two defenders and return safely, and that's two points.
- Bonus point. When six or more defenders are on court, a raider who crosses the bonus line deep in the defending half earns one extra point. They still have to get back safely.
- Super raid. Any raid worth three or more points. Super raids are the moments that turn matches.
- Empty raid. The raider comes back without scoring and without being caught. Nobody scores.
Tackle points
If the defenders stop the raider from getting back to their own half, the defending team scores a tackle point and the raider is out.
A super tackle happens when the defending side is down to three players or fewer and still stops the raider. It's worth two points instead of one, a reward for defending short-handed.
Do-or-die raids
A team can't keep sending raiders who play safe. After two empty raids in a row, the third raid is a do-or-die raid: the raider must score at least one point, or they are out and the defenders score.
All-outs and revivals
When every player on a team is out, the opponents inflict an all-out. That earns them two bonus points on top of the points that put the last player out, and the whole beaten team comes back onto the court together.
Short of an all-out, teams bring players back through revivals: each point a team scores brings one of its out players back, in the order they went out. Tackling well while short-handed revives your raiders as well as scoring.
Reading a kabaddi scoreboard
On our match pages, kabaddi statistics break the total down by where the points came from:
| Stat | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Raid points | Touch and bonus points scored by raiders |
| Tackle points | Points scored by stopping raiders, including super tackles |
| All outs | Two bonus points for each time the opponents were all out |
| Extras | Points awarded for the other side's technical faults |
| Super raids | Raids worth three or more points |
| Super tackles | Two-point tackles made with three defenders or fewer |
How the Pro Kabaddi League table works
The PKL table rewards close defeats as well as wins:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win | 5 |
| Tie | 3 |
| Loss by 7 points or fewer | 1 |
| Loss by more than 7 points | 0 |
Teams level on table points are separated by score difference (points scored minus points conceded). Our Pro Kabaddi League page builds the table from each result using these rules, and shows the difference in the +/- column.