Former India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has merged his padel venture, 7Padel MS Dhoni, with PadelPark India, as the two seek to consolidate operations and build a nationwide platform for the fast-emerging racquet sport.

The transaction brings together a celebrity-led consumer-facing brand and an operating-led sports infrastructure company at a time when padel is witnessing sharp growth across India’s metropolitan centres. Financial details of the merger were not disclosed. The combined entity will focus on court expansion, organised tournaments, coaching programmes and grassroots participation.

PadelPark India has drawn institutional interest over the past two years. Since August 2024, Parth Jindal, through JSW Sports, has been among its early investors.

Dhoni’s entry as a partner is expected to enhance the platform’s visibility and accelerate adoption, particularly beyond Tier-1 cities. “Tier-1 cities have already shown how quickly padel can grow. The next phase is expanding access beyond metros,” Dhoni said, adding that the availability of courts remains the biggest constraint to participation.

“In a country with over 10 million racquet sport players, the opportunity is significant,” he said. “Once courts are available, people take to padel naturally. It’s social, it’s played in doubles, and it’s built around community.”

Founded by Nikhil Sachdev, Jigar Doshi, Pratik Doshi and Ronak Daftary, PadelPark India currently operates more than 40 owned and managed courts and has contributed to the development of over 200 padel courts nationwide. The company plans to expand this footprint to 400–500 courts over the next year, signalling an aggressive push across both established and emerging urban markets.

India’s padel market, while still at an early stage, has scaled rapidly. Industry estimates suggest the number of courts has increased from around 70 in 2023 to over 300 by late 2025, driven largely by demand from urban consumers seeking social, fitness-oriented sports with a relatively low learning curve.

Globally, padel continues to gain momentum. According to the World Padel Report 2025 released by the International Padel Federation, the sport has crossed 77,300 courts across 150 countries. Institutional recognition has also strengthened. In November 2025, padel was officially recognised by the Olympic Council of Asia and will be included in future editions of the Asian Games.

The merged entity will operate across infrastructure development, competitive play and training. Its portfolio includes SkyPadel for court development, the Indian Padel Tour for organised competition, the Indian Padel Academy for training, Bullpadel India for equipment distribution, and 7Padel MS Dhoni as its consumer-facing brand.

“This unification brings together a strong consumer brand and an operating platform with the ability to scale,” said Nikhil Sachdev, Co-founder, PadelPark India. “Dhoni’s entry adds long-term vision and discipline, which are critical as padel moves from niche adoption to mainstream participation in India.”

For India’s sports business ecosystem, the deal underscores growing investor interest in emerging sports with scalable infrastructure models. Whether padel can transition from a premium urban pastime to a broader participation sport will depend on sustained capital deployment, affordability and the pace of infrastructure expansion beyond major cities.