Thursday, March 26, 2015

698. When the Cricket Ball falls on the Good Length Area….!!!!







White Kookaburra in the hand tossing and rubbing it to his trouser many times the bowler is ready to bowl the final over of first part of the decisive match. The batsman seems to be in an aggressive mood hammering every ball out of the boundary. He has nothing to lose, all he has to do is swing the bat and add more and more runs so that the total looks handsome. He has to think of selecting the shot which could help sail the ball out of the boundary. He wishes the ball comes at the decent height and speed so that he can hit more number of sixes.

It is the blower, who is under pressure he is sure that batsman is going to swing at every ball as it is the final over. He has to keep the ball in line and length. The experts call it “Good Length Area”. To drop the ball in the good length area, he has to focus and at the same time anticipate the moves of the batsman. While he is focusing on the good length area, is he excited about taking the wicket? Is he mentally thinking of the celebrations he is going to make after taking the wicket? Is he, maybe, thinking of how his captain and fellow players will applaud him? Or, could he be thinking how his coach and selector will be happy with his performance and retain him for the next tournament? Or, will he think if he is hit for six sixes in that over would he lose his place in the team for the next tournament. Will his sponsorship deal be cancelled? Will the captain let him down at the press conference? What will the press write about him what will happen to his career? …….. will there be so many questions????

No! None of those thoughts have to pass through his mind when he is concentrating on putting the ball in the “Good Length Area”. A seasoned blower plays the game without the thought of consequence; this is a required condition for him if he needs to concentrate on dropping the ball in the right area and at right speed. A little bit of anticipation of what the batsman might do, is all he has to think. All those tactful thinking has to be before he starts the run up, once the ball has left his hand he has no control over it and he cannot make it land on the right area then. Most importantly the bowler has to be aware that along with his efforts to put the ball in the right spot, the wind velocity and pitch behaviour also plays the significant role.

Whether it is blowing or anything you do, if you can do it without a thought for the consequences, at least for as long as you are doing it, it improves the possibility of focusing on the work. If you believe me, at the times when you have ventured into doing something with the focus on work alone, then you experience an inexpressible inner pleasure quite apart from what you might get monetarily from it. May be this is the reason why Sir. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American preacher, philosopher, and poet writes “The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.” 

Karma Yoga emphasizes on doing work without eyeing the reward. Work here which is mentioned does not start at office hours but whatever you say or do every moment of your life is counted. Whatever life throws your way to be, to say or to do should be carried out without any expectations or apprehensions of outcome. If you can disconnect yourself from expecting or panicking, I suppose that you can focus more on the work just as the blower who wants the ball to land in the “Good Length Area” and puts effort in controlling the ball when it is in his hand……… Do you agree????

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