IPL franchise Punjab Kings (PBKS) has appointed former India cricketer and ex-batting coach Sanjay Bangar as their head of cricket development. This will be his second stint with the franchise, having worked earlier as head coach between 2014 and 2016.

Bangar will work alongside head coach Trevor Bayliss. One of his first tasks after joining will be to select reinforcements in the IPL 2024 auction, which will take held in Dubai on December 19.

Bangar was previously associated with Royal Challengers Bangalore before joining Kings. After joining as batting consultant in 2021, he was named head coach for the next two seasons, working alongside director of cricket Mike Hesson. Bangar was with the Royal Challengers for two of the three seasons in which they made the playoffs.

"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 said in a PBKS statement.

PBKS CEO, Satish Menon, shared his excitement stating, “Sanjay is an experienced coach and has great credentials. Over the season and beyond, we will leverage his ability to build relationships across the squad.” 

Bangar has had two stints as the Indian team's batting coach. Bangar's debut season with Punjab Kings in IPL 2014 was the team's best-ever season, finishing runners-up to Kolkata Knight Riders. 

Kings released five players last month, with Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shahrukh Khan being the two major names. They have eight slots vacant ahead of the IPL 2024 auction and a sum of INR 29.1 crores to fill them.