Sri Lanka great calls for patience as attention turns to India ODIs

Binura Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana and Nuwan Thushara are all sidelined due to injury and several members of the team have been struck down by the flu in the lead-up to the ODI series with India.

But Jayasuriya will not be using the absence of key players as an excuse during the next three matches and wanats to see the rest of the squad step up and perform well against India.

"I'm interim coach and I've only got these two series, but that's not how I think," he said. "When I was playing, and even now, I hate to lose. The players who are around now know that too. When I talk to them, I tell them that fans in this country love the game, and a lot of us, including me, have brought cricket into this country to a certain place.

"I've spoken about that a lot individually with players and as a team. In terms of facilities and practice, I've tried to do as much as I can. What I want is to create a good environment so they can be mentally in the right place and can play with confidence."

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