As a child in India, Vikas Rambal would wake up before sunrise to catch TV vision of Dennis Lillee firing thunderbolts at opposition batsmen on lively Australian wickets.

Decades later, the West Australian billionaire will be sitting in his own corporate suite at Perth Stadium as the first ball is bowled in the five-test Border-Gavaskar series on Friday, having flown associates and family in from the United States and Europe for the occasion.