shabash

“Shabash! This is really good, jaanoo.”

I yell “Shabash!” a phrase normally reserved for things like holes-in-one.

Amid cries from the players in Bengali of “shabash,” or “well done,” 19-year-old Somundra watches the game.

The Urdu word for “excellent,” shabash also is a term among cricket players worldwide — whether from India or Pakistan, England or Australia, Jamaica or Guyana — to cheer on outstanding batting, bowling and fielding, the game’s essential skills.

With the ear-popping crack of a bat, shouts of “Shabash!” rang out on a recent Sunday afternoon at Silver Spring’s Galway Park.