New Delhi: In the bustling, sizzling summer of Delhi, a quiet yet powerful revolution is unfolding - not across the dusty cricket pitches or crowded badminton courts, but on the gleaming new pickleball and padel courts sprouting across the cityscape, with players braving the afternoon heat to play.
Once considered niche imports from the West, both pickleball and padel are now fast-embedding themselves into the Indian urban fabric, driven by their accessibility, community spirit, and fitness appeal.
While Mumbai remains the epicentre of India’s pickleball boom and Ahmedabad has made strong strides, Delhi NCR is rapidly closing the gap, bursting with potential.
"Today, we have more than 250 pickleball courts just in Delhi NCR," Suhail Narain, Founder and CEO of Hudle, a leading tech solution platform connecting players and sports facilities, told Pickleball Now. "We are adding 30 to 40 new courts a month - that is more than one new court every day."
Delhi's Giant Strides
According to Suhail, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are still ahead in terms of the overall number of courts and player participation. However, Delhi and its National Capital Region, he said, fuelled by a surge in young working professionals, corporates, and families embracing the sport, is projected to soon surpass Ahmedabad.
At present, 60 per cent of the pickleball courts in Delhi NCR are dedicated facilities, while the remaining 40 per cent are multipurpose courts. Such is its popularity that basketball courts in schools are being repurposed into pickleball courts, making them dual-purpose facilities.
"The beauty of pickleball is that it breaks age barriers," Suhail observed. "From 20-year-olds to 60-year-olds, players from all walks of life are enjoying the game together. In sports like badminton, differences in skills and fitness often make it difficult for people of different ages to play together."

"Pickleball acts as a great leveller. While it has become a popular trend among young working professionals between 20 and 30 years old, we are also seeing a strong and regular participation from players in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. For many older people, it is even replacing their morning walk routines," he remarked. Across India, Hudle now lists over 1,500 pickleball and padel courts. "Delhi and Bengaluru are emerging as fast-growing hubs," stated Suhail.
Pickleball or Padel?
As both sports gather momentum, a natural question emerges: which one is pulling ahead - and is there any friction between them?
"Pickleball is way ahead of padel when it comes to player base and the number of courts. Padel is also a slightly technical sport and needs more investment than pickleball," Suhail noted. "However, since padel courts are fewer in number and require a higher investment to set up, they often see better occupancy rates. Typically, for every 10 pickleball courts, there are about 2 padel courts. While the average pickleball player plays around five times a month, padel players average slightly higher at about seven games a month. That is what our data tells us. Hardcore pickleball players, however, take it up a notch, playing 15-16 games monthly."
The technicality and infrastructure needs of padel make it less ubiquitous. But in places like Delhi, where 25-30 commercial padel courts already exist (compared to 65-75 in Mumbai), the sport is steadily carving out its niche.
Anant Jangwal, Founder and CEO of Play Padel, made a bold prediction for padel. "By the year 2028, there could be as many as 1,000 Padel courts in India. For Pickleball, we estimate a total of 150 commercial Pickleball courts in Mumbai, and about the same in Delhi NCR. By the year 2028, there could be as many as 2,500 Pickleball courts in India," he told ANI.
Picklenomics
But at the moment, pickleball continues to be a step ahead. It is not only encouraging people who never played sports to play, but also creating a new marketplace."Delhi is one of the most expensive markets. Today, we charge between Rs 700 to Rs 1,200 per hour to rent out a pickleball court, while the charge for premium venues can go up to Rs 1,500. Padel, requiring larger, costlier courts, charges anywhere between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per hour," revealed Suhail.
Echoing him, Alpesh Patel, City Leader at Decathlon Sports India, said, "Padel and Pickleball are experiencing remarkable 4x growth in the Delhi NCR region, fuelled by strong community engagement, the demand from youth, corporate groups, and families is driving this growth."
However, their rapid rise in participation is not affecting traditional sports either. "Our badminton numbers are really impressive. Though it is not growing as fast as pickleball, the number is steady. You also have to consider the fact that badminton is played by a niche group of people who hhavee skills to play it," Suhail said. "Pickleball, on the contrary, is bringing new people into the sporting fold - those who previously never played any sport."
More Than a Digital Fad
Yet, like with any rising trend, scepticism lingers. Is this just another urban digital media creation destined to fade away? Industry insiders think otherwise.
"Pickleball is not a digital fad; it is a physical experience. Once you start enjoying it, you start loving it," Suhail argued. "It offers real-life experiences, unlike viral social media trends that burn out fast."
A Michigan University alumnus, he is so confident in pickleball’s rise that he said it will soon sweep India, much like cricket, with players filling in lanes and bylanes across cities.
"We are observing it closely. How, the customer number is going up every month. InPickleballill become something like cricket that we see kids playing on the roads and colonies while growing up. Pickleball will become like that. There will be courts in every nook and corner of the country. And in a few years, it will become part of our lives," professed Suhail.
As the courts fill up and the rackets continue to find new hands, Delhi - the capital of India - is quietly observing a revolution that is here to sustain.