IPL has taught many valuable lessons that will find use in the England tour, says Washington Sundar

Washington Sundar played only seven games this IPL for his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. This season was not very promising for the team as they had to exit after the league stage, failing to even make it to the qualifiers. However, 18-year-old Washington Sundar feels that there is a lot that he has learnt from the games, having been in the company of skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and others at RCB.

The Tamil Nadu cricketer was confined to four wickets in the seven matches he appeared in. Taking into account the contributions made by him in his debut for the Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017 and his Man of the Series title in the Nidahas Trophy in March, the youngster would have hoped to have a more notable role to play for the Virat Kohli-led franchise. However, Sundar has a very sporty attitude towards the events in the last two months and insisted that the experience and lessons that one learns from such a tournament are more important than how the team fares.

"The experience was very good. To be honest, playing or not playing depends on the selection group. There are a lot of things involved when it comes to making the playing XI in IPL - four foreign players, team combination, etc. It's not disappointing at all. Whenever you play a long tournament like the IPL, there are a lot of things you learn irrespective of how you do," he told Times of India.

India are all set to tour Ireland and England next month for a very busy series where they will start with T20Is against Ireland followed by ODIs and T20s against England before playing a five-match Test series. As one of the players named for both the ODI and T20 squads, Washington will be hoping to put to use some of the things that he has learnt in the IPL.

"I have never played cricket in England before. The challenge will be to get the best out of myself in those conditions. I should not be looking to do things too differently. I just need to be mentally prepared in all aspects. If I can do that, I have the belief that results will go my way and I can succeed there," he assessed.

The upcoming tour will be a whole new stage for Washington to prove his worth. It is the first time he has the opportunity to be a part of a full-strength Indian side led by Kohli. Having been mentored by Kohli for the last couple months, the guidelines given by the Indian skipper will definitely prove useful in ensuring a good game for Washington.

"It was amazing to play under Kohli. There are so many things to learn from the way he carries himself and the kind of intensity he brings. You cannot blink when you are playing with him. As captain, he gave me a lot of inputs in terms of strategies and tactics. It definitely helps being around senior players if you are up for it and keen to learn as much as possible. When I'm around stars like Kohli and MS Dhoni (with Pune last year and India), it gives me an added advantage to grasp things quickly."