Fifteen of the 16 Indian Test players who played in the West Indies will arrive in Bermuda today for a short two-match tour.

The only exception, manager D.V. Subba Rao disclosed yesterday from New York, is fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad who has been given permission to return to India as his wife is expecting their first child.

Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president Ed Bailey flew up to New York on the weekend to assist the Indians with visa matters, and after spending three days in the United States the Indians fly down to Bermuda today.

The rest of the tour party is still intact, including injured opening batsman Navjot Sidhu who is ruled out of both matches in Bermuda. He missed the last three one-day internationals at the end of the Caribbean tour because of a torn muscle and a hamstring injury.

Those injuries have also forced Sidhu to declare himself unavailable for the upcoming four-nation Independence Cup one-day tournament which starts on the weekend.

The main attraction in the Indian team is captain Sachin Tendulkar, considered along with West Indian Brian Lara as the best batsmen in world cricket.

Tendulkar was India's youngest Test cricketer at the age of 16 when he made his debut against Pakistan in 1989-90.

Former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who passed 5,000 runs in Test cricket on the final day of the final Test match in Guyana, comes to Bermuda with the reputation of being the team's most experienced current batsman.

But after scores of three, 24 and 40 in his three innings in the four one-day internationals against the West Indies, Azharuddin has been dropped for the Independence Cup with left-hander Vinod Kambli earning a recall.

Also dropped from the 16 players who toured the West Indies are wicketkeeper batsman Saba Karim and batsman Vangipurappu Laxman.

Other outstanding batsmen to watch in Bermuda will be left-hander Saurav Ganguly, who etched his name in the history books last summer when he scored centuries against England in his first two Test matches, Rahul Dravid and Ajay Jadeja while vice captain Anil Kumble is rated as one of the top leg-spinners in the world behind Shane Warne of Australia and Pakistan's Mustaq Ahmed.

The tour follows visits here by other Test teams, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan and though the Indians will take the opportunity to relax following their demanding tour of the West Indies, manager Subba Rao has vowed that they will take the two matches seriously, especially with the Independence Cup coming up.

That tournament, to celebrate the country's 50th anniversary of independence, starts on Friday but India won't see action until next Wednesday. They leave here on May 11, returning home via Boston and London and play their first match three days later in Bangalore.

"We'll be taking it (Bermuda tour) seriously,'' Subba Rao assured. "We will help promote the game and the Bermuda board has been so kind to invite us over there.

"We'll be putting our best foot foward and not treat it as a holiday. While we are there all 15 players will get some exposure and the public will get the opportunity to see them in action.'' Coach Madan Lal, himself a former Test all-rounder with 39 Test appearances between 1974 and '86, has some knowledge of Bermuda cricket.

Having taken over as national coach from Sandeep Patel last October, Lal was coach of the United Arab Emirates team who beat Bermuda on their way to winning the 1994 ICC Trophy and qualifying for the last World Cup.

When Bermuda met UAE in the quarter-final round robin, Bermuda scored 329 with Dexter Smith and Albert Steede putting on a massive 154 for the first wicket, Smith scoring a century and Steede 76. But Bermuda could not defend that total as UAE won by one wicket with eight balls remaining.

"He (Lal) commented that he thought the standard of our cricket was very high for a population of 60,000 people,'' said Bailey.

The Bermuda team for Saturday's second match (St. David's, 12.00 noon) is expected to include players who went to Malaysia, while the team for tomorrow's game (Somerset, 12.00) does not include any of those who competed at the ICC Tournament.

It will be captained by Olin Jones and one late change to the squad named on the weekend is Irving Romaine of Bailey's Bay coming in for the unavailable Cleon Scotland while Daniel Caines is also unable to play as he is abroad with the Regiment.

Alex Virgil and Randy Butler will be the umpires for tomorrow's match while George Francis and Wilbur Pitcher will officiate on Saturday.

SACHIN TENDULKAR -- rated one of the world's top batsmen.