Bermuda 138, India 143-4 Not for the first time the state of the St. David's wicket came in for criticism as India's touring Test team wrapped up their short two-match visit with a second easy victory, beating Bermuda's national team by six wickets on Saturday.

After the tourists had expressed concern over the wicket which was dark and damp, the game was reduced to 40 overs per side following a 72-minute delay.

Fearing their players might be injured, India declined to bat first, having lost the toss to Clay Smith.

"The wicket was a little wet and they put fertiliser on it but we didn't want to risk getting injuries,'' explained India manager David Subba Rao afterwards.

Last May the same thing happened when New Zealand stopped in Bermuda at the end of their Caribbean tour and encountered wickets of uneven bounce at both Wellington Oval and St. David's. The wicket at Lord's then was also damp, drawing criticism from New Zealand coach Glenn Turner and BCBC president Ed Bailey, who said at the time it could have cost the Board a lot of money.

On Saturday many of the spectators arrived at the ground early, probably in anticipation of watching Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, rated as one of the best in the world. But circumstances meant that he was never required to bat, thus denying the crowd a possible repeat of the dashing century he cracked against a BCBC Select last Thursday.

Instead, it was Bermuda who batted first and India soon had them in trouble with Abey Kuruvilla and Dodda Ganesh restricting the hosts to just two runs in the first five overs by which time they had also each taken a wicket.

Roger Trott was bowled by Ganesh on the fifth ball of the second over and Clay Smith marked his debut as Bermuda captain in place of the absent Albert Steede by falling to a catch at first slip by captain Tendulkar off Kuruvilla in the fifth over.

Jason Lewis also went cheaply, caught behind off Ganesh in the eighth over when the score was just five.

Dexter Smith finally hit the first boundary for Bermuda in the 11th over when he hooked second-change Sauran Ganguly for six.

By that time, though, India had already eased off the pressure with Kuruvilla and Ganesh both replaced after 10 overs. Smith departed in the 14th over when the score was 19 and when Janeiro Tucker went two overs later to the same bowler to make it 27-5, the large crowd started to think about an early departure.

However, between the 17th and 30th overs something positive finally began to happen for the Bermuda team...runs were flowing.

Anthony Amory, who only got chance of a Bermuda recall because of the dropping of a number of players following incidents in Malaysia at the ICC Tournament, engineered the fightback. Together with Dean Minors, he added 68 runs in just 36 minutes as the two left-handers gave the crowd some hope.

Minors struck eight elegant fours in his 42 which came off 51 balls while Amory finished not out on 48 with six fours and a six. He was denied the only 50 against the Indians when he ran out of partners.

Amory and Minors produced the only two knocks of significance with the next high being the extras column (24) as a total of 138 was reached in 38.3 overs.

Ganesh, who came back for a second spell, took the last two wickets of tailenders Dale Fox and Garry Williams to finish with four for 14 from 7.3 overs while Ganguly and Tendulkar each claimed two wickets.

Tendulkar's spinners went for a costly 49 in eight overs as he was smashed for nine fours, most of which came during the Amory-Minors stand.

But that would be the last the crowd would see of the diminutive Test star as he disappointed the crowd by not batting, instead allowing left-handers Sunil Joshi and Robin Singh to lead the team to victory.

Tendulkar, along with some of his team-mates, spent the Indian innings moving around and mixing with the crowd, as scores of youngsters sought autographs.

"We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Bermuda, it was short and sweet,'' said the captain. "I would say that the people of Bermuda have been very hospitable and kind to us.'' Added Indian manager Subba Rao: "We will cherish these memories for a long, long time to come.'' India, despite losing wickets in the second and fourth overs to Williams who was a late addition to the Bermuda team, still reached their target with more than 12 overs to spare. They had 66 on the board after 10 overs and 97 from 15 as Joshi scored 44 with three fours and three sixes. His opening partner, Mongia, had his stumps knocked back by a Williams delivery that moved in off the seam.

Joshi and Singh scored 70 in quick time for the third wicket with Singh carrying his bat for 52 not out with eight fours and two sixes, the second of which brought up his 50 and victory off the second delivery of Roger Trott's first over.

India, who departed yesterday, will go straight into action on Wednesday in the Independence Cup which they are hosting to celebrate their 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

"We have to win it. Pakistan are there and so are Sri Lanka who won the World Cup, so victory would certainly place us very high in the world rankings as far as one-day cricket is concerned,'' said Subba Rao.