SARAH FERGUSON, PRESENTER: In cricket crazy India, another sport is making surprising inroads, and that's AFL.

Most budding players from the Subcontinent have never seen a live game and rely on videos of old matches to learn the rules.

Across six states, several hundred of them are training regularly.

The game is being developed by a dedicated handful of locals who had the chance to represent India in Australia as part of the AFL International Cup held here every three years in Melbourne.

As Stephanie March reports from Kolkata, selection for this year's Indian team is underway.

STEPHANIE MARCH, REPORTER: Batanga (phonetic spelling) Cricket Ground in West Bengal is no MCG. In the most surprising of places, Aussie rules is taking off, but not everyone is sure what to make of it.

LOCAL WOMAN (voiceover translation): This is a new game and I like watching it. There are lot of games being played here, but this is unique indeed.

TOM CALDER, AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT: Footy is a very good representation of India to the outsider. It seems like you don't have any rules, there's a fair bit of chaos, people are running round everywhere, there's lot of screaming and yelling and shouting.

STEPHANIE MARCH: The man driving this new craze is Sudip Chakraborty.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY, AFL INDIA: One of my friends, fellow class mates from the school, one day told me, "Why don't you come and try a new sport?" And there was a coach who had come down from the AFL for a month in Kolkata and slowly I started liking the skills. My height was an advantage there, probably. In a couple of months, I became a fan.

STEPHANIE MARCH: The coach who inspired Sudip was Sydney Swans legends Brett Kirk.

BRETT KIRK, AFL AMBASSADOR: Football just brings people together. Doesn't matter how tall you are, how small, what size you are. There's a position on the team for everyone. You're working towards this common goal.

STEPHANIE MARCH: In 2008, after a few months of training, Sudip Chakraborty was selected to play for India at the International Cup in Melbourne.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY: Initially we played the Samoans, the Kiwis, the Japanese who had been playing for years. They were big. They beat us up like anything. New Zealand defeated us for 212 to nil, I believe. Samoans beat us up and turned the entire hotel into a hospital.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Despite the on-field drubbing, the trip changed his life.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY: Saw a few games live at the Telstra Dome back then, MCG, and saw Buddy Franklin score his 100th live at the stadium. I don't think there's any better feeling, electrifying feeling than that. Got goose bumps and then I fell in love.

STEPHANIE MARCH: After getting hooked on the game in Australia, he postponed his uni' studies and travelled India at his own expense to promote the game. In 2011, Sudip met up with former Sydney Swans captain Brett Kirk, who'd travelled to India as part of a documentary about the growth of Aussie rules overseas.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY: He kept encouraging me for the work that I've been putting in and that was truly emotional, I must say.

BRETT KIRK: It makes me feel really happy that I've helped, I guess, inspire someone and I don't think Sudip needed too much inspiration 'cause he already had this love and passion.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY: We've got the cricket ovals ready and I think 80 per cent of the footies in the world are made in India, in Punjab, so the cost is reduced for us by 10 times.

STEPHANIE MARCH: There are now several hundred Indians playing Australian Rules, and for many of these kids, it's more than just a bit of fun.

TOM CALDER: You're not talking about kids that come from a middle class, upper class background. There's a few of those playing. But really it's driven by kids from Indigenous areas, slum areas in Mumbai. So for them it's really about access to a sport.

STEPHANIE MARCH: In his remote village in Western India, 18-year-old Amaresh Mondal trains six times a week and the game gives him time away from hardship at home.

AMARESH MONDAL (voiceover translation): The feeling is great! People gather around to watch us play. Playing one of the world's most popular games is great. And when I go back home, people were really very excited and happy about this new game.

STEPHANIE MARCH: Sudip Chakraborty is struggling to raise money to take a team to Australia for this year's International Cup, but he hopes to scrape together enough so at least some players can visit the spiritual home of their favourite game.

SUDIP CHAKRABORTY: We cannot take all experienced players along. Every time we need some new ones to come and learn the new sport and come back and preach it further.

BRETT KIRK: I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing them improve and they've had a few more years in between and I'm sure under Sudip's guidance, they will have trained hard and got together a good group.

SARAH FERGUSON: Stephanie March reporting.