North Field (Americas Select won the toss): Americas Select beat Bermuda by 42 runs

Mahesh Hatkar, the Indian cricket coach who has been in Bermuda for three weeks, has expressed his willingness to coaching the island’s national team.

Hatkar, the coach at Param Veer Cricket Academy in Sanjay Farm, has previously worked with some of Bermuda’s cricketers during his 28-year coaching career.

Prior to the ICC Cricket World Challenge League play-off in Malaysia at the beginning of the year, Terryn Fray, Dominic Sabir, Jarryd Richardson, Sinclair Smith and Marcus Scotland got to benefit from the 60-year-old’s wealth of experience, when the Bermudian players went on tour to India.

Since parting ways with another Indian, Niraj Odedra, last October due to affordability issues, the Bermuda Cricket Board have relied on Cal Waldron, who is doing the job on a part-time basis.

With the team preparing for a trip to Argentina for 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Sub-regional Qualifier, the BCB might consider bringing in extra help in the coaching department.

“At present I’m not attached to any national team, I’ll be glad if Bermuda invite me to train their national team or the juniors,’’ Hatkar told The Royal Gazette.

The Indian has in the past coached the Tanzanian cricket team, and also worked with the Ugandan as well as Sierra Leone teams when they held their camps in India.

His presence in Bermuda is funded by the Department of Sports and Recreation. Hatkar has during the time on the island conducted coaching sessions with local clubs, and also worked with junior as well as senior national team players.

One of his assignments have seen him take charge of the Americas Select, who are on tour in Bermuda. The team, made up of players from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Falkland Islands, and the United States, won the two-match T20 friendly series against Bermuda.

On Saturday, they face St George’s in a T20 and conclude their tour with a 40-over contest against Somerset the following day.

Reflecting on the matches against Bermuda, the Americas Select coach identified fitness and a relaxed approach as some challenges for the Bermudian cricketers.

“Fitness is one of the major aspects because I’ve seen not taking singles,’’ Hatkar said. “They are not running hard on the first run and they’re very casual to take the second run.

“This ground is big, you have to play intelligent cricket. Twenty20 is not about technique, it is about strategy and planning.

“Running between the wickets was more crucial here than hitting sixes and fours. You could see the running between the wickets in the second match was really good from the Americas Select, and I’m proud of my boys.

“They’re mature boys and they know the job that has to be done. I’m really proud of these player, I hope everyone does good for their nations when they go down, and take with them what I've taught them.

“I worked with Luiz Muller from Brazil. Initially he wasn't good with his feet movement and today he scored 35, so within four sessions we changed that.

“I hope he takes this to Brazil and show them how I coached him to play against spin bowlers. That is more crucial because spin is very difficult for any part of the world to play.”

Sanjay Krishnamurthi from the United States, who scored a total of 99 runs in the two matches, had to quickly adjust to playing on an unfamiliar wicket.

“I’m coming off a good run of form in the Major League and Minor League in the US,’’ the 21-year-old said.

“I felt in good touch coming here. It was little difficult to adapt to the wicket initially, but I got a hang of it and tried to choose the right options to approach the batting.”

For Bermuda, Allan Douglas Jr again fought a lone battle. The 37-year-old picked up three wickets and top scored with 27 runs to win the MVP of the series.