Indian Pickleball League: Teams, Squads, Format, All you need to know – Preview

The inaugural edition of the Indian Pickleball League (IPBL) commenced in the national capital on Monday.

The league conducted by the Indian Pickleball Association, which is the national federation recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport, is the first official league for the sport in the country.

A total of six teams – Bengaluru Blasters, Chennai Super Warriors, Capital Warriors Gurgaon, Hyderabad Royals, Lucknow Leopards, and Mumbai Smashers – will compete for the ultimate honours in the week-long tournament.

Here, we look at all you need to know about the 2025 Indian Pickleball League:

Squads

Each of the six team consists of six players apiece handpicked during the player draft. Every team consists of a Super Star Male, Super Star Female, Indian Star Male, Indian Star Female, Rising Star Male, and Rising Star Female players.

Bengaluru Blasters: Phuc Huynh, Pei Chuan Kao, Arjun Singh, Rakshikha Ravi, Aditya Singh,Shraddha Damani

Chennai Super Warriors: Mitchell Hargreaves, Roos Van Reek, Harsh Mehta, Aaliya Ebrahim, Aman Patel, Priyanka Mehta

Capital Warriors Gurgaon: Jack Munro, Emilia Schmidt, Stavya Bhasin, Naimi Mehta, Arik Badami, Danielle Jones

Hyderabad Royals: Ben Newell, Megan Fudge, Divyanshu Kataria, Snehal Patil, Tejas Gulati, Shreya Chakraborty

Lucknow Leopards: Ryler DeHeart, Shelby Bates, Aditya Ruhela, Mihika Yadav, Ronav Motiani, Naomi Amalsadiwala

Mumbai Smashers: Quang Duong, Allison Harris, Ammol Ramchandani, Pearl Amalsadiwala, Rishi Reddy, Sindoor Mittal

Format

The first round of the inaugural Indian Pickleball League will be played in a round robin format, which means all the teams will play each other in at least during the tournament.

Following the conclusion of Round 1, four teams will advance to the knockouts and qualifiers whereas the bottom two teams will be eliminated from the competition.

During each tie, four players – two men and two women – will be in action. Two Indian players – one male and one female – will be designated as extras and can be rotated between ties.

Each tie will consist of five matches – Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.

Every regular match will be played to 15 rally points, while the grand rally match will be played to 21 points. If the scores are level at 14-14 or 20-20, the winner will be decided by a golden point.

The teams winning a regular match will get one point, while the teams winning a grand rally match will pocket two points.

The team with highest point at the end of the tie will be declared the winners.

Schedule

November 1 to 5, 2025: Round 1 matches. 3 Ties per day

November 6, 2025: Qualifier 1, Eliminator, and Qualifier 2

November 7, 2025: Grand Final

Where to Watch?

You can catch all the LIVE action from the 2025 IPBL on the Sports Now YouTube channel.