A Study on the Flow State of a Cricketer

Performance of a cricketer is crucial to his own career and also for his team’s success. Preparation is crucial in both physical and mental arena. Trying to break out of comfort zone decides professional success. The more a cricketer is able to maintain himself in the flow state the more successful he will be. The most important factor of this flow state is that it refers directly to the cricketers understanding / subjective perception of his own ability to perform or execute a skill / to do the task at hand and his perception of the challenge, instead of the actual challenge or ability itself. He should be able to maintain a balance between his perception about the challenge and the actual challenge. If the two of these are not balanced, it will most likely hinder or completely stop the onset of flow. If the perception of the cricketer about the challenge is greater than the perceived skill, it makes him feel anxious or worried that he not be able to complete the task without pain or embarrassment, or possibly not complete the task at all. This paper attempts to discuss the flow state and its relationship with the Performance and also some of the methods that can be used to get into the Flow state.