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

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have appointed Sanjay Bangar as their batting consultant for the 2021 edition of the tournament, announcing the development with a tweet on Wednesday. Bangar joins Mike Hesson (team director), Simon Katich (head coach), Sridharan Sriram (batting and spin-bowling coach), Adam Griffith (bowling coach) and Shankar Basu (strength and conditioning coach) as part of the team's support staff.

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, who served as India's batting coach from 2014 before being replaced by Vikram Rathour in 2019, also has coaching experience in the IPL. He joined Kings XI Punjab as assistant coach in 2014 before being promoted to head coach during the season, but he stepped down from the role in December 2016. He was also a player in the Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders set-ups before retiring in 2013, and was also a part of the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala as batting coach.

The Royal Challengers overhauled their coaching set-up in August 2019 after three poor seasons in a row, where they finished bottom of the eight-team table twice and sixth once. Hesson and Katich joined the ranks, and under the new set-up last season, they reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016 before being knocked out in the Eliminator by the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Bangar, who played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs between 2001 and 2004, scored 8349 runs in first-class cricket and picked up 300 wickets, leading Railways with distinction when at his prime in the Indian domestic circuit.