Joining Cricket NSW as its first community communications specialist, Swagata Sen had no roadmap – just a brief: tell stories that bring more people into the game.
Three years on, she has done more than just shape a communications strategy – she has helped redefine what cricket means for one of Australia’s fastest-growing communities. Through her storytelling and strategic vision, she has turned cricket into more than just a sport. It is now a space for cultural connection, representation, and belonging.
From the newsroom to the stadiums
Sen’s career began not on the cricket field, but in the newsroom. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, she started her professional journey with The Statesman, one of India’s oldest newspapers.
But traditional reporting, chasing police stories and accident leads, wasn’t where her heart lay. “I realised I didn’t enjoy the grind of that kind of journalism,” she says. “What I did love was the sense of purpose and narrative that sport could provide.”
That narrative instinct led her into various editorial roles, including a stint with a global tech research firm. But it wasn’t until she moved to Australia that her career took a defining turn. Spotting a job listing from Cricket NSW, she applied on a whim. “I thought, ‘Cricket – I know cricket. Let’s give this a go.’”
It was a leap into the unknown, and the start of a new chapter.
Storytelling as strategy
When Swagata Sen joined Cricket NSW in 2022, the organisation had set itself an ambitious “Wildly Important Goal”: to double the number of 5- to 12-year-olds playing cricket from 40,000 to 80,000. “The idea was that once children start playing young, they become fans, and often players for life,” she explains.
The leadership realised that the key to achieving that goal was not just infrastructure or coaching, it was storytelling. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” Sen says. “The job was to make cricket visible, relatable, and aspirational.”
Her timing couldn’t have been better. South Asians – over a fifth of Australia’s population – love cricket, yet their stories barely featured in the game’s official narrative in 2022.
Sen knew how to change that: “For us, cricket is more than a game. It’s a way to feel at home, to belong.”
Cricket as a home away from home
Sen’s most impactful work has been her role in shaping the South Asian Engagement Strategy at Cricket NSW –an initiative that uses cricket as a vehicle for inclusion.
The strategy is built on three pillars:
- Participation: Getting young people involved early. “We now see South Asian children in every junior program. In some girls’ teams, up to 50% are of South Asian origin,” Sen notes. Swagata Sen
- Fandom: Creating welcoming, culturally familiar spaces at games. Initiatives like “Culture on the Concourse” bring Indian food, dancers, and even Kolkata taxis to match days. Fan zones like “Chamari Bay,” named after Sri Lankan star Chamari Athapaththu, make spectators feel represented and included.
- Performance: Building clear pathways to elite cricket. Scholarships, coaching, and mental health support are now available, and players like Aryan Sharma, Yash Deshmukh, and Kharagpur lad John James are breaking through the ranks.
South Asian representation is now visible across junior and elite levels.
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Challenges and breakthroughs
Building this ecosystem wasn’t without hurdles. “The biggest challenge was figuring out where to start,” Sen admits. “It was a blank slate, and there was so much to do.”
One early success was the Country Blitz – a campaign that sent players to regional NSW schools to run clinics and engage with local media. “Regional Australia is fiercely loyal to cricket,” Sen says. “It was about nurturing that love and connecting it with the broader goals of participation and awareness.”
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Today, Cricket NSW runs monthly campaigns to keep the conversation going – from Women and Girls Week in October, which brings hundreds of female cricketers together at North Sydney Oval, to the Women’s and Men’s Big Bash seasons that anchor the summer schedule.
Yet, changing the narrative has also involved looking inwards. One of the biggest challenges Sen and her team are addressing, is cultural mindset. “Sport still takes a backseat to studies in many South Asian homes,” she says. “We’re proving cricket offers real futures — as players, coaches, umpires, and more.”
That future is made clearer by programs that guide parents and children through the sport’s pathways, often in their own languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Nepali.
Building a Legacy
For Swagata Sen, the ultimate goal is bigger than numbers or attendance figures. It’s about legacy. “Our mission is to leave behind a culture of world-class inclusivity,” she says. “We want cricket to reflect the multiculturalism of Australia.”
Today, this storyteller’s tales are building bridges – between cultures, generations, and communities. In the process, they are helping shape the future of Australian cricket: one where every child, no matter where they come from, can dream of wearing the baggy green.
“We want our kids to see themselves on the field,” she says. “Because when they do, the possibilities become endless.”
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