Chennai: What pickleball is to tennis, Prof Sathyanarayana N Gummadi of IIT Madras hopes "Phiball" will be to basketball: a faster, more accessible, and tactically demanding reinvention of a classic invasion sport.

Launched on the eve of National Sports Day (celebrated on August 29 every year) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Phiball re-engineers conventional court dynamics by pitting three teams against one another on a single circular pitch.

"Phiball is a new version of a basketball game combined with netball," explained Prof Gummadi, Dean of Students at IIT Madras.

"Since there are three teams competing with each other, this becomes an even more fast game and students learn how to take quick decisions and instant game strategy depending upon the situation," he added.

Prof Gummadi admitted that the American invention, Omegaball, set the ball rolling for Phi.

The modified three-sided version of football or American soccer, where three teams compete simultaneously on a single field with three goal posts, became quite a hit when IIT Madras introduced it in April. "Since basketball is more popularly accepted sport than football in Indian schools and colleges, we thought we should bring a similar modification to the sport. It took us two months of back and forth with basketball coaches to get the rules in place," Prof Gummadi told PTI.

One thing became clear as the evening proceeded: With less ground to cover on the 26-metre-diameter circular court, players ended up expending that conserved energy in relentless defense, making Phiball an "intense" experience for both spectators and players.

"We can't really focus on one team or one player like we do in basketball like man-to-man defense," observed Soham Sawant, a student at IIT Madras.

"We have to focus on two rims at the same time. We can't really let them score anywhere cause any team scoring is hurtful for us," he added.

For athletes accustomed to two-way basketball, the learning curve was immediate. Early matches featured moments of stop-and-pause awkwardness, but the action rapidly evolved into a natural flow. Players consciously adapted to spatial rules, particularly fighting the instinct to drive directly under the net -- stepping into the No-Offense Zone beneath the rim immediately nullifies the point.

Scoring is also notably harder. "The absent backboard is also very important because layups are not possible. We have to aim straight for the rim," Sawant noted.

Layup, in layman term, is a close-range shot, where a player typically drives to the basket and bounces the ball off the backboard so it drops smoothly into the net.

Possessions are governed by a 24-second shot clock in Phiball, ie, once a team gains possession of the ball, they have exactly 24 seconds to attempt a shot at the basket, Sawant explained. But individual holds are strictly limited. "You can only do three dribbles. So you can't really ball handle much, you have to pass as soon as you can," he added.

Despite the chaos, the format proved engaging. "It was very competitive and fast-paced like compared to normal basketball," said Ayush, a 19-year-old student from VIT Chennai.

"Three teams were playing simultaneously so a little bit of confusion was there, but apart from all that the game was very interesting," he added.

The sport owes its name to the Golden Ratio or Phi (which has an approx value of 1.618), mirrored in a 1.6-metre restricted perimeter zone designed to cushion collisions.

The true triumph of Phiball, however, lies in its striking adaptability. When rain interrupted the inaugural outdoor matches, the tournament simply moved indoors. Relocating the court required little more than a rope and chalk for measurements, brightly coloured yellow tape and plastic cones for boundaries, and three portable, backboard-less rims reminiscent of children's practice hoops.

This minimalism addresses a fundamental barrier in grassroots Indian athletics. Because synthetic and concrete courts are cost-prohibitive for many rural and government schools, Prof Gummadi designed Phiball to be played on dirt, clay, or grass.

Establishing the game requires only three posts and a total setup cost of under Rs 30,000.

By merging low setup costs with intense decision-making under pressure, IIT Madras has engineered a game that strips away expensive infrastructure, leaving behind pure, fast-paced tactical competition. And, while at it, an opportunity for players to strengthen their skills in the conventional basketball.

Balaji, the vice-captain of A M Jain College team, the winning team of the inaugural match, who's been playing basketball for six years, told PTI there were quite a few "penny drop" moments on the inaugural evening as they adapted to the new game.

"One, I realised our team was even more tight-knit than I gave credit for. Despite uncertainties, we could get into flow pretty quick. Two, we need to practice netting the ball more, we simply couldn't bank shots during penalty throws," he said.

This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.