A uniformly moving cricket ball is turned back by hitting it with a bat for a very short time interval. Show the variation of its acceleration with time. (Take acceleration in the backward direction as positive)

During the course of impact of the ball with the bat, the ball gets defored and then recovers its original shape and size. During deformation, the impact force first increases and during restoration period, the force of impact gradually decreases and then finally becomes zero. So acceleration also first increases and then decreases and becomes zero.