IPL 2021: Sanjay Bangar joins Royal Challengers Bangalore as batting consultant

Former India all-rounder and ex-batting coach of Team India Sanjay Bangar has joined Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore as their new batting consultant from the 2021 season. Bangar served as the batting coach of the Indian senior team for a period of five years from 2014. 

He joined as assistant coach under Duncan Fletcher and also worked under head coaches Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri. Bangar’s tenure came to an end in the aftermath of India’s exit from the 2019 World Cup after a loss to New Zealand. 

“We are delighted to welcome Sanjay Bangar to the RCB Family as a batting consultant for #IPL2021! Star-struck. Welcome aboard, Coach!” RCB tweeted on Wednesday. 

We are delighted to welcome Sanjay Bangar to the RCB Family as a batting consultant for #IPL2021! 

Welcome aboard, Coach! #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #NowARoyalChallenger pic.twitter.com/SWKLthSyXl — Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 10, 2021

Bangar will be reunited with Team India skipper Virat Kohli in his new role with RCB. The head coach of RCB is former New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson. The former Railways all-rounder represented India in 12 Tests and 15 ODIs in his international career.

During his stint as batting coach with the Indian team, the Test team rose from No. 5 in the ranking to No. 1. He also served as assistant coach of the Kings XI Punjab franchise from 2014 and was promoted to head coach next year.

However, he stepped down from his position as KXIP head coach to avoid conflict of interest due to his position with the Team India support staff. At the first-class level, Bangar notched up 8349 runs with the bat with 13 centuries and 43 fifties and also picked up 300 wickets with the ball.

Bangar was replaced as batting coach in the Indian senior side by Vikram Rathour in 2019. 

Talking about Bangar’s role in the team, Hesson said that the 48-year-old will join the squad in its pre-season camps. 

“Sanjay Bangar’s role as batting consultant will include working with our existing squad in camps in Bengaluru leading up to our full squad pre-IPL camp,” said Hesson. 

“We are very fortunate at RCB to now have Sanjay join Sriram and Simon as batting coaches who can offer superb knowledge and experience to our playing squad throughout the IPL,” added Hesson, who is in India for the IPL auctions slated to be held on February 18 in Chennai.