Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 10 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Sanjay Bangar as the new batting consultant ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Bangar comes with a vast experience of having coached the national team and also IPL teams in the past. Bangar will join an illustrious coaching staff that already has Sridharan Sriram as batting and spin bowling coach, and Simon Katich as head coach.

“Delighted to add a Coach of Sanjay Bangar’s experience to our existing coaching team led by Head Coach Simon Katich,” RCB’s Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson said in an official release.

Talking about Bangar’s role in the team Mike said that the 48-year-old Bangar 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.””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,” concluded Mike who is in India for the IPL auctions slated to be held in Chennai on February 18th.

Earlier, RCB had announced that they have decided to retain 12 members of their IPL 2020 squad and the likes of Aaron Finch and Moeen Ali were from the squad.

The likes of Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, and Yuzvendra Chahal will be seen for RCB this season. While, key performers of last season like Devdutt Padikkal and Mohammed Siraj have also been retained.

Australia limited-overs skipper Finch and England all-rounder Moeen Ali along with South Africa’s Chris Morris have been shown the door.

RCB’s retained players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson, Pawan Deshpande.

Released players: Aaron Finch, Gurkeerat Mann, Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel, Isuru Udana, Umesh Yadav, and Pawan Negi.

Earlier this month, pacer Dale Steyn had announced that he would not be available for selection for IPL 2021, and as a result, he has also been released.

RCB had made it to the playoffs of the IPL 2020 season but the side had to face a loss in the Eliminator against SunRisers Hyderabad.

The Virat Kohli-led side has not been able to win the IPL title even once, but the side has made it to the finals thrice. (ANI)