We play as a team - Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene has played down the absence of the injured Ajantha Mendis

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene insists Sri Lanka will be able to cope with the loss of Ajantha Mendis during the Test series against Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka arrived in Dhaka for a two-Test series against Bangladesh without Mendis after the spinner, who inspired his side to a 2-1 series victory over India, was ruled out with an ankle injury. He has been replaced by slow left-armer Rangana Herath.

"Ajantha is not here and yes, it's a different combination, but whoever is going to replace him will do the job," Jayawardene said. "The physio's report says he should be fit for the second Test.

"The team we have got here is a very good team so we won't rush him back to international cricket at this juncture.

"If he is fit to play, he will have a fitness test back home and I know the board will make the necessary arrangements. But we don't play as individual players; we are a team that plays cricket as a team."

Sri Lanka play a three-day tour match beginning on Sunday before the first Test, which gets under way on Boxing Day, and Jayawardene insisted his players are well prepared for the series.

"It's very difficult to say what kind of challenge we could expect. We just need to settle down first," he added.

"Obviously they have a good side. They have quite a few new faces now in the team and we need to study them a bit, but they have always proved a challenge every time we played them.

"We won't be complacent and won't underestimate the challenge that is ahead of us. We have got a very good team and we just want to make sure that we play good cricket.

"The last series we played was against India in Sri Lanka and, although that was close to three months ago, the memories of beating India are still fresh.

"It`s always good to think about those things and make sure that we get ourselves ready for the series.

"We have been playing a lot of domestic cricket, the three-day competition. Most of the guys have four to five games under their belt before they came here. So the preparation has been really good.

"We are going to be very serious about the cricket that we play here and we will try to enjoy the games as well."