Expect more of a spectacle, then, during the ICC World Cup, which will also be telecast on set Max. Maybe, the channel can get Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and A.R. Rahman to perform during the break.

Genteel souls have protested SET Max's unusual coverage of the ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket apart, there's the ubiquitous bunch of has-beens serving as commentators, albeit with a few new faces, a clutch of former veejays happy to display its ignorance of the game, and a character from blockbuster Lagaan (Circa 1893, villagers in a remote Indian hamlet challenge their colonial overlords to a game of cricket and-what do you think?-win), unkempt beard and all, cheering the team from the trenches.

All of these add-ons must have looked good on paper; on screen, they look tacky. That isn't enough reason, though, to lament the death of cricket as it should be played (or broadcast).

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The average television rating for a cricket match in which India is one of the competing sides is between 17 and 20. That means 17-20 per cent of the people who can watch these broadcasts, do. At 40 million cable households, and close to 200 million possible viewers, the resulting number is between 34-40 million. The resident population of Australia is a shade lower than 20 million; England, 60 million; and South Africa, 40 million. And these are the other large cricket playing nations. Safe to conclude, then, that India presents the world's largest market for cricket telecasts. A billion and more red Chinese couldn't care less about the game, but that's another story.

Indians love cricket. They also love noise. The CEO of a multinational consumer electronics giant once said that his company had to rework the audio-innards of all its television models before launching them in India. Reason? Indians watch the tube at sounds that would make most first world residents- with the possible exception of the Italians and the Spaniards-deaf. And they love a spectacle. These are the needs set Max has sought to satisfy. And these are the needs any cricket broadcaster will need to address in the future.

Apart from being the world's largest market for cricket broadcasts, India is also home to most of the game's sponsors. Coke, LG, and Pepsi are multinationals, but it is their subsidiaries in cricket-obsessed India that sponsor tournaments. Then, there are homespun biggies like Hero Honda and Sahara. There are also a few dozen advertisers keen on getting their messages across between overs. A captive audience of 34-40 million is nothing to scoff at, especially in India-it is a developing country, isn't it?-where every viewer is a potential customer.

Expect more of a spectacle, then, during the ICC World Cup, which will also be telecast on set Max. Maybe, the channel can get Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and A.R. Rahman to perform during the break. If rock band u2 can perform during halftime at the 2002 NFL (National Football League) Superbowl, why not?

If you are among the minority that thinks that all this Jazz isn't in keeping with the spirit of the game, you are probably better off watching a game of beach cricket in Chennai's Marina. Big business (and big money) can both only be good for the game. And if it is a song-and-dance show viewers want to see when they tune into a cricket broadcast, that's what they will get to see. That's the way of the free market.