Dev Shah, Sahil Shah win Kerala Open Open Men’s Doubles title

Dev Shah and Sahil Shah did more than win a title at Kerala Open 2026. Their 11-6, 11-9 straight-games victory over Rayan Tanjia and Arunava Majumder in the Open Men’s Doubles final marked them out as a pair worth tracking on India’s fastest-moving pickleball circuit.

The first game told the story early. Dev and Sahil came out sharp, controlled the kitchen exchange, and used quick net play and angled shots to force errors before Rayan and Arunava could fully settle in. That kind of early command matters in open-level doubles, where rallies are shorter, decision-making is quicker, and a slow start usually turns into a long afternoon. Dev and Sahil never let the match drift into that territory.

The second game was the real test. Rayan and Arunava tightened their positioning, extended rallies, and made the final feel like it could swing with a few points either way. It never fully broke open, though, because Dev and Sahil stayed patient under pressure and kept choosing the higher-percentage ball at the right time. The 11-9 finish was the shareable detail, the kind of scoreline that says control without comfort. They had to earn every point in the closing stretch.

That matters because this was not a small local bracket. Kerala Open 2026 was billed as South India’s biggest pickleball tournament, staged April 18-19 at Rally Labs in Kochi with 20 categories, a 5,00,000 prize pool, and more than 100 players. It was officially sanctioned by the Indian Pickleball Association under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and played as a PWR 400 event, a level Times Now described as the highest tier for state and regional tournaments in India. In a field like that, a clean open doubles title carries real weight.

The result also adds another layer to the Dev-Arunava matchup across the tournament. Arunava Majumder was named Most Valuable Player after a strong run, and he had already beaten Dev Shah 11-13, 11-7, 12-10 in the Open Men’s Singles final. That made the doubles loss sting a little more for Arunava, but it also underlined the depth at the top of the draw: the same names were trading punches in different formats, and neither side had any easy path.

Kerala Open’s wider finals list showed the same depth across age groups and levels, with Chintan Sheth and Nilesh Desai taking the 50+ men’s doubles, Koritepati Vincent and Anjai Pemmasan winning the intermediate men’s doubles, Ronald Raphael and Akhil taking the beginner title, and John Of Matha with N.J. Nampoothiri claiming the 60+ crown. For India’s pickleball map, Kochi delivered the point clearly: the competition is getting deeper, and Dev Shah and Sahil Shah just placed themselves in the middle of it.