Sanjay Bangar, the former India and Railways allrounder, has been appointed India’s head coach for the team’s tour to Zimbabwe. Bangar had earlier worked as the batting coach with the national squad before his contract ended with the World T20 World Cup in March-April.
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India are set to play three Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day Internationals in the tour that will begin on June 11. He will be joined by Abhay Sharma as India’s fielding coach for the tour. With the BCCI inviting applications (deadline June 10) for all the coaching posts, Thursday’s announcement may lead to murmurs that the BCCI is not in favour of Shastri, Arun and Sridhar. Bangar (batting), B Arun (fielding) and R Sridhar (fielding) were part of the coaching staff along with Shastri.
While the appointments of Bangar and Sharma are only for this short tour, the BCCI is expected to hire a long-term coaching staff before India’s tour of the West Indies after placing advertisements. Bangar was in the midst of a controversy recently as his IPL side, Kings XI Punjab went through a torrid time during the ongoing tournament; the 2014 finalists finished at the bottom of the table yet again.
Koka Ramesh – former cricketer and Zonal Secretary of the Andhra Cricket Association – has been hired as the Administrative Manager of the team. The former wicketkeeper has been a coach with the India U-19 and A sides and has done well with them.
The announcement ends all speculation about whether the team would be travelling to Zimbabwe with or without a coach.
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Bangar, who is now the head coach of Indian Premier League side Kings XI Punjab, will accompany a largely inexperienced squad led by limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
