IPL 2021: RCB appoint Sanjay Bangar as batting consultant for the upcoming season

The preparations for the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have begun. The franchises announced the list of released and retained players for the upcoming season last month too and the auction is set to take place on February 18 in Chennai. Ahead of the event, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have decided to appoint Sanjay Bangar as the batting consultant for IPL 2021.

Bangar has the experience of working with team India as well. He was the batting coach of the team led by Virat Kohli until India’s ouster from the World Cup 2019 in the semi-final. He has also worked with the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) before in the same capacity and certainly, will be aware of the job he has in his hand.

The official Twitter handle of RCB announced the news of the franchise signing Sanjay Bangar as the batting consultant and welcomed the former India cricketer to the family. Bangar will now play a crucial role for RCB possibly in the auction as well if the franchise is especially targetting a good lower middle-order batsman.

RCB released some top players ahead of the auction

In terms of released players, RCB dropped the likes of Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, and Umesh Yadav among others. While Dale Steyn made himself unavailable for IPL 2021, Parthiv Patel retired from all forms of the game. Among all, Morris being released left many baffled as the all-rounder did well in the previous edition in the limited matches he played.

The team will now be looking for a decent all-rounder and they might even buy back Morris for a lesser price. Moreover, they will also need a good death bowler as they released Isuru Udana too along with Umesh Yadav. Their current line-up only has Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj in the bowling line-up alongside Kane Richardson and RCB needs a very good bowler, especially overseas, to fill the gaping hole.