Former India cricketer and national batting coach Sanjay Bangar was on Wednesday appointed as the batting consultant of Indian Premier League side Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the upcoming season.

Bangar served as the batting coach of the Indian men’s senior team for five years from 2014 when Ravi Shastri took over as team director. He continued in the role till the 2019 World Cup before being replaced by Vikram Rathour.

“We are delighted to welcome Sanjay Bangar to the RCB Family as a batting consultant for #IPL2021! Welcome aboard, Coach!” the franchise said in a tweet.

The 48-year-old Bangar, who played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs between 2001 and 2004, will be reunited with India skipper Virat Kohli in his new role with RCB. He will join Mike Hesson, the director of cricket operations for RCB, and Simon Katich, the head coach.

Bangar was working as an analyst for the official broadcaster Star Sports in the previous edition of the IPL. In the IPL, he was previously with Kings XI Punjab as the head coach during which he guided them to the final in 2014. He stepped down from that post in December 2016.

The 14th edition of the IPL is expected to be held in India in the second week of April.

With PTI inputs