This new sport takes Delhi-NCR by storm — even Virat Kohli and Ashneer Grover are hooked

Indian Express

4 days ago

Yugal Bansal was the 13th-best tennis player in the whole country — at least till the beginning of 2024. In 2020, he suffered an elbow injury while playing a tournament. For eight months, he tried to get back into the groove but couldn't; the injury flared up each time he tried to play competitively.
That's when he noticed his seniors taking up a new sport, one that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis — pickleball.
Intrigued, the 26-year-old tried his hand at it last October. Since then, he has won nearly every pickleball tournament he's entered.
Invented in 1965 in the United States, pickleball is played with a paddle and a perforated plastic ball on a court roughly the size of a badminton court. The net resembles a tennis net but is set lower.
And it's fast gaining popularity in Delhi, emerging as the recreational activity of choice among affluent young professionals looking for a new way to spend their free time — and money.
It's the latest cool thing to do. Celebrities play it regularly.
Actor Angad Bedi has been seen on a court in Mehrauli. Entrepreneur Ashneer Grover is often spotted at the pickleball court in Panchsheel Park. Cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma were playing pickleball a month ago at a Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team event.
Even the entire cast of the runaway hit TV show Panchayat posted pictures on social media, posing on pickleball courts with paddles in hand.
An inside look
In the last year, as pickleball shot to fame in the national capital, sports complex owners have been trying to hop on the trend, while brands and celebrities sought to capitalise on its craze.
Last month, Delhi hosted 'The Cleanse', a Pickle and Padel tournament at Rackonnect Exclusive Padel Pickle Park in Mehrauli.
On match day, high-end luxury sedans and SUVs line the entrance to the sports complex. The facility boasts three pickleball courts, two paddle courts, a football turf, and a cricket net.
As the qualifying matches kick off, families cheer from the sidelines, joined by players waiting for their turn.
Players of all ages compete side by side. 'People from any age group can play this sport as it's very easy to pick up,' says Gaurika Chopra, 49, a former sports journalist at NDTV, as the rhythmic pop of plastic balls hitting paddles fills the air. 'It's difficult to master, but getting started is simple. A lot of women also play.'
Singh adds that because pickleball is a no-contact sport, it encourages greater participation across age groups and genders.
By 9 pm, the casual participants have been knocked out. Left behind is a core group of experienced players — including Bansal, the top-ranked men's player.
He is called for the semifinal. He moves across the court with the assurance and agility of a player who has been doing it since childhood. While he's trained on tennis courts for most of his life, the transition feels seamless: many pickleball courts across the country are being converted from old tennis courts.
Bansal eventually ends up winning the men's singles category.
This tournament, which was marketed as a wellness event — with sponsors such as the Bombay Hemp Company, Shyft Plant Protein, and Solace Physiotherapy Centre LLP — is reflective of the culture around pickleball today.
Players see it as a healthy and guilt-free way to spend time with friends and meet new people. 'Earlier, people either used to go to a restaurant or a club to meet friends. Everyone was getting bored with it. At the end of the day, how long can you talk with the same people at the same places?' asks Nupur Banerjee, 31, a tech consultant.
Arjun Singh, co-founder of Hudle, a sports-tech company, says, 'Post-Covid, a lot of people began focusing on their health… many took up gym memberships and started working out.'
'But now, you'll see a dip in the number of people who regularly show up to the gym — it is inherently something you have to do alone. But playing a sport, something like pickleball, is much easier to do consistently since it's a social activity: you have fun doing it and you are not just dependent on your own motivation to follow through,' he adds. The new social scene While it's believed that a club in Vasant Vihar opened Delhi's first pickleball court in November 2023, Sachin Pahwa, 45, claims he launched the first court in North India even earlier — at Sainik Farms.
'My court was not as popular because the Vasant Vihar one was in a club — but I was the first mover,' says Pahwa. He used to play tennis earlier, but shifted to pickleball after seeing it on social media.
But almost everyone acknowledges that Mumbai was the first mover in pickleball, with Delhi and surrounding regions following in its footsteps.
According to Singh, who operates the Hudle app through which most people book their pickleball courts, there are roughly 200 pickleball courts in Delhi-NCR. New courts are being added by the day; Singh estimates that 30-40 courts are being built every month in the area.
But this is not a cheap game to play. Booking a court for an hour can cost up to Rs 1,250, depending on the venue and time, and renting pickleball rackets costs extra. Regular players choose to buy their rackets, the prices of which go up to Rs 10,000.
Riddhima Gupta, co-founder of Rulo, a pickleball and paddle venue, explains the rationale behind the premium pricing. 'Take any sector — dining, hospitality, fashion — we have seen progress and change in how things are done. But in sports, there was no change at all. If you had to play a sport, you had to go to the same old DDA sports complex.'
'But people's expectations and exposure have grown. That's why sports also have to provide a more retail kind of experience,' Gupta says.
Rulo, like many other venues, is not just a space where players can come and play a game. Located inside the tony Panchshila Club, it also has a cafe and seating area, where players are seen resting and having a chat with their friends before and after a game.
Many players, like Nupur, have rituals of going for coffee or a meal after the game. 'Khan Market on weekend mornings is full of people who go there for breakfast after a game of pickleball,' she says.
A growing network
A stream of events across venues in the city not only fuels the sport's growing popularity but also gives players a chance to connect.
Dirtygood, a continental restaurant in Netaji Nagar, organises events centred around pickleball, such as Sunrise Social. Participants go for a short run first, then come back to the restaurant for steam and sauna, and a game of pickleball.
Gupta says a lot of companies now keep their mixer events at pickleball venues. Birthday parties, too, centre around a friendly game of pickleball. Schools and clubs are also partnering with companies to convert tennis courts into pickleball courts.
'Since it's a very new sport, a lot of people know each other,' says Aditya Kumar, manager at Rackonnect. 'And there are several opportunities to meet new people at various events and tournaments.'
In a WhatsApp group created by Rulo, players keep posting about wanting extras to join them, even if at a different venue. 'Looking for 2 Intermediate/Intermediate + players from 4- 6 pm today, at Pick a Ball Saket,' one person writes in the group. Within a minute, he gets a reply: 'I'm in with +1'.
But this growing culture is, in many ways, enabled by a certain level of financial comfort and free time among its participants.
'Our parents did not have that. In our generation, a lot of people have this luxury,' said Singh.
Devansh Mittal is a trainee correspondent with The Indian Express. He studied political science at Ashoka University. He can be reached at [e-mail]. ... Read More