IPL franchise Punjab Kings on Friday, 8 December announced Sanjay Bangar as their Head of Cricket Development. The former India all-rounder, who was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023 has now returned to his previous franchise with who he had worked with as Assistant Coach in 2014 before taking on as the Head Coach in 2015 and 2016.
With his new role in the Punjab colours ahead of IPL 2024, Bangar will work closely with Head Coach Trevor Bayliss to get the best talent in the upcoming IPL 2024 mini-auction. The Shikhar Dhawan-led franchise took to social media to announce this appointment with the caption that read, “We are delighted to announce the return of our sher, Sanjay Bangar as the new head of Cricket Development at Punjab Kings. Mr. Bangar brings wealth of experience and expertise to our organisation, and we are confident that under his leadership, our cricket development programs will reach new heights.”
Talking about his new role, Sanjay Bangar expressed his joy to join the Punjab-based team. “It’s my privilege to be with the Punjab Kings again. We have a good core of players as evidence by the fact that we have the lowest number of players releases this year,” he said in a media statement. “The challenge is to give the squad the best support possible during and after the season to make them the team stronger and deliver success,” he further added.
Bangar was appointed the Head Coach of RCB, and the franchise did not renew the contract of him and the Director of Cricket Operations, Mike Hesson. Talking more about the Kings, they finished eighth in the point table with just five wins from 14 games.