diff --git a/lightning/backend/tidb.go b/lightning/backend/tidb.go
index 6c1e0793d..294ee333c 100644
--- a/lightning/backend/tidb.go
+++ b/lightning/backend/tidb.go
@@ -263,7 +263,10 @@ func (enc *tidbEncoder) Encode(logger log.Logger, row []types.Datum, _ int64, co
 		enc.columnCnt = columnCount
 	}
 
-	if len(row) != enc.columnCnt {
+	// TODO: since the column count doesn't exactly reflect the real column names, we only check the upper bound currently.
+	// See: tests/generated_columns/data/gencol.various_types.0.sql this sql has no columns, so encodeLoop will fill the
+	// column permutation with default, thus enc.columnCnt > len(row).
+	if len(row) > enc.columnCnt {
 		log.L().Error("column count mismatch", zap.Ints("column_permutation", columnPermutation),
 			zap.Array("data", rowArrayMarshaler(row)))
 		return nil, errors.Errorf("column count mismatch, expected %d, got %d", enc.columnCnt, len(row))
diff --git a/lightning/backend/tidb_test.go b/lightning/backend/tidb_test.go
index 48ce6a51c..f81345a98 100644
--- a/lightning/backend/tidb_test.go
+++ b/lightning/backend/tidb_test.go
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ func (s *mysqlSuite) TestWriteRowsIgnoreOnDup(c *C) {
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	row, err := encoder.Encode(logger, []types.Datum{
 		types.NewIntDatum(1),
-	}, 1, []int{0, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1})
+	}, 1, []int{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, -1})
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	row.ClassifyAndAppend(&dataRows, &dataChecksum, &indexRows, &indexChecksum)
 
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ func (s *mysqlSuite) TestWriteRowsErrorOnDup(c *C) {
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	row, err := encoder.Encode(logger, []types.Datum{
 		types.NewIntDatum(1),
-	}, 1, []int{0, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1})
+	}, 1, []int{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, -1})
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 
 	row.ClassifyAndAppend(&dataRows, &dataChecksum, &indexRows, &indexChecksum)