IPL 2024: Punjab Kings appoint Sanjay Bangar as Head of Cricket Development
Former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar has been appointed as the head of cricket development at Punjab Kings for IPL 2024. Bangar has also had an association with Punjab Kings in the past as he served as the assistant coach of the franchise in 2014 and was later appointed as the head coach for seasons 2015 and 2016.
The 51-year-old will serve the role similar to that of director of cricket and will work alongside head coach Trevor Bayliss. Bangar will also be present at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai on December 19.
“It’s my privilege to be with the Punjab Kings again. We have a good core of players as evidenced by the fact that we have the lowest number of player releases this year. The challenge is to give the squad the best support possible during and after the season to make the team stronger and deliver success,” Bangar was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Notably, Punjab reached their first-ever final of the IPL in 2014 with Bangar as their assistant coach. However, they finished on the bottom of the points table in the next two editions with Bangar as the Head Coach. Following his association with Punjab as head coach, the Maharashtra-born cricketer served as the batting coach of the Indian side that reached the semi-final of the 2019 ODI World Cup.
Sanjay Bangar was head coach of RCB in 2023
After his stint with team India ended, Bangar further joined Royal Challengers Bangalore as a batting consultant ahead of IPL 2021 and was later named their head coach for the next two years until the 2023 season.
Following another disappointing season in 2023 where RCB failed to qualify for the playoffs, the franchise didn’t renew the contracts of Bangar and Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson and appointed Andy Flower as their head coach.
Meanwhile, Kings released only five players ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, including Tamil Nadu finisher Shahrukh Khan, which added INR 9 crore to their purse which is currently at INR 29.1 crore.
