What ails Indian Basketball? [Exclusive]

India's sporting talent is like the Pacific Ocean — vast, deep, and brimming with untapped potential. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, countless dreams dribble around, fuelled solely by passion. But for most, the hoop of opportunity stays out of reach. Eventually, the clock runs out and those dreams are swished to the sidelines.

The lore of basketball is no different. The NBA enjoys a zealous following in the country. We all know at least one person who used to play the sport in school or college. It is not uncommon to find basketball in a Bollywood film, or people sporting a Lakers or a Celtics shirt in everyday life. Yet, we hardly hear about India's achievements on the global stage.

It is a sport that suffers not from a lack of passion but from a lack of stage. Few understand it better than Kulvinder Singh Gill, who has spent a lifetime serving Indian basketball. A former player himself, Gill is currently the general secretary of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

In an exclusive conversation with him last month, we delved deeper into what ails the sport and how the InBL Pro U-25, a franchise-based league currently in its inaugural season, could help turn things around.

"I started my career in the year 1975 as a sub-junior, playing for my state Madhya Pradesh. I also played for the Indian team for six years from 1985 to 1991. For the players, job opportuinites are limited. So, usually a player's aim is only to represent the country somewhere, after which his attention turns to his family. He feels he has achieved it all. Due to this Indian basketball was not able to perform at the international level," Gill explained.

The InBL Pro U-25 not only aims to attract more eyeballs and thereby bring money into the sport but also aspires to build a full-pronged career pathway for Indian ballers. The ongoing season, which after several delays finally got underway on February 2, features six teams.

The best-performing players from this tournament will represent the Indian Panthers in the NZ NBL (New Zealand National Basketball League). As a part of this initiative, they will also get the opportunity to live and train in Auckland for five months.

Gill hailed the launch of the league as a dream-come-true moment.

"This is definitely a very big moment. For a long time, the players, federation, people of the administration — all of us, had this dream of having our own league, which will open new opportunities for the player and allow them to take up basketball as a career," Gill said.

"Generally, parents or anyone wants that if a child is playing a game, then he/she should be able to adopt it as a career in the future. Like we are seeing it happen in cricket or other sports like Kabaddi. This league will not only open up more opportunities for the players but also make them finacially strong," he added.

Gill believes the benefits reaped from this league will strengthen Indian basketball and eventually lead to success at the international level. He continued:

"With the start of this league, a player will keep himself fit round the year. He will get the chance to compete with better players of international level. All this will elevate the level of Indian basketball. From a career point of view, when a player will see that the better he plays, the more financial advantage he gets. So, when he plays for the Indian team, he will be more competitive. That will help us secure medals at the international level."

"The league will bring in more money for the federation, which will help them to run development programs at the grassroot level. This will further help the players and ultimately the Indian team will be able to perform better at the international level," he added.

The new 3x3 format and India's Olympic dream

InBL Pro U-25 is organized and managed by Captains Professional Basketball Ltd., who have hosted tournaments across the country under the brand name INBL (Indian National Basketball League) before this. These were open-entry tournaments, played across two formats — the traditional 5x5 and the novel 3x3.

As the names suggest, 5x5 features a five-players-a-side contest, while 3x3 is a three-players-a-side match on a half-court, with rules altered to make the game snappier.

"3x3 is like how cricket moved to 50-50 (One-day cricket) and then, later to Twenty20. Similarly, the people involved with basketball at the world level too developed a new format that can be played in smaller spaces. It can be played in malls, at beaches. You don't necessarily require an indoor stadium for it," Gill explained in the same interview.

The new format has also been a part of the last two editions of the Olympics. Gill feels India has brighter prospects of success in the 3x3 format.

"Even today, 5x5 is more popular. But I think, India has more chances of winning a medal at the international level in 3x3. But our focus is on both," he said.

For the BFI, the Olympic qualification remains the north star. Team India last featured in the quadrennial games in 1980. Gill revealed that the target was to qualify for Brisbane 2032.

"Currently, our main focus is the U-16 and U-14 players who, in the coming 8 years, would be at an age where they can represent the country at the Olympics. The federation is focused on them and I feel we will definitely be successful in our mission," he added.

For now, InBL Pro U-25 only features the traditional format. However, the organizers say they wish to expand it to include both.

It remains to be seen if the InBL Pro U-25 can bring to life the rosy picture of dreams it has painted. Fans hope that it will be able to plunge into the vast ocean of India's untapped potential and build bridges of opportunities for the country's ballers to shine through.