A cricket fan from Western Australia, who was in Calcutta this summer to witness the IPL at the Eden Gardens, watched the first Test between India and Australia at Perth Stadium.

Stuart Pether was hoping to see the Aussies batter a depleted touring side. He instead witnessed a remarkable Indian fightback.

“With India reeling at 47/4 on the first day, I thought it was time for the first beer. Little did I know that within five hours, the same scoreboard would show Australia at 47/6,” said Pether, a mining engineer who missed the last day’s action because he had to go to a mining site in the Western Australian Goldfields.

For much of Day One, Australian supporters were high on energy. Beer snakes were being constructed and supported by many hands amid cheers from the crowd. “A beer snake is a unique Australian invention, made from empty beer cups joined together to make a chain, sometimes 15 to 20m long, depending on the skills of the supporters and the patience of the ground security teams,” said Pether.

The arena, also known as Optus Stadium, is often called the “Furnace” as the Western Australia crowds are parochial and usually one-sided. India are an exception. Wherever they play, the contest in the stands is close no matter what is happening in the middle.

“The India supporters danced, played drums and waved flags in the aisles. As the match progressed, the Biryani Army became louder,” Pether said.

The 55,000-seat Optus Stadium is also affectionately referred to as the Cray Pot, due to its resemblance to the cane pots used to catch crayfish along the Western Australian coastline. The stadium has covered seating for 30,000 spectators around the ground and spacious seating, walkways and food, drinks and entertainment areas.

The comparison between Optus and Eden was not lost on Pether.

“The excitement of the crowd at Optus, whilst impressive for a Test match, does not compare to the roar and the passion of the KKR supporters at Eden. But the quality of the food, drink and other facilities is a long way behind the world-class offering at Optus,” he said.

“Perth has very good public transport at the stadiums. There is very limited car parking at Optus. But all sports events at Optus come with free public transport provided by the state government,” he added.

Coming back to cricket, Pether credited the IPL — he has been following it on TV and has been to multiple Indian stadiums to watch IPL matches — for giving the “best exposure” to young Indian cricketers like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana.

“I believe young Indian players gain exposure to the best players in the world in the IPL and this gives them the confidence to perform at the higher level of Test cricket. On Day Two, Rana was bowling aggressively to Micthell Starc. Starc called out Rana and said he could bowl faster than Rana and that he had a long memory. It was a good-humored exchange, most likely driven by them both being at KKR this year. Without the IPL, banter with a champion bowler like Starc could have been intimidating for a debutant like Rana,” Pether said.

Pether feels the cricket fans at Perth, considered the Mecca of pace and bounce, loved watching Jasprit Bumrah. They, and Australian fans in general, “have also come to respect Virat Kohli”.

“Ten years ago, I think Virat would have been disliked by many Aussie fans. There were a couple of nasty exchanges when he was captain. But now, he is well respected in Australia. I think his exposure to Australian cricket fans via IPL has also helped in this,” said Pether.