As 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is around the corner, Punjab Kings (PBKS) announced the arrival of Sanjay Bangar as the new Head of the franchise.Punjab Kings shared a post on microblogging platform X, to announce the entry of the former Indian cricketer. The captions read, We are delighted to announce the return of our sher, Sanjay Bangar as the new Head of Cricket Development at Punjab Kings. Mr. Bangar brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our organization, and we are confident that under his leadership, our cricket development programs will reach new heights.We are delighted to announce the return of our sher, Sanjay Bangar as the new Head of Cricket Development at Punjab Kings.Mr. Bangar brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our organization, and we are confident that under his leadership, our cricket development… pic.twitter.com/oDamatwpYg— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) December 8, 2023According to ESPNcricinfo, Bangar will work alongside Trevor Bayliss. He will also participate in the IPL auction, which will be held in Dubai on December 19.The 51-year-old was the batting coach of Men in Blue which reached the semi-final of the ODI World Cup in 2019. He later became batting consultant with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2021 to 2023.However, RCB discontinued Bangers services and appointed the Zimbabwean former cricketer Andy Flower as the new head coach. What is the performance of PBKS in IPLThe former batter will join PBKS for the second time. The team, then known as Kings XI Punjab, made it to their first IPL final in 2014 during his initial tenure. Since then, they havent reached the Playoffs and even found themselves at the bottom of the points table twice in a row.With six victories and eight losses in the previous season, PBKS came in at number eight. They were unable to qualify for finals.Which players were dropped by PBKSPlayers released: Baltej Dhanda,Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Mohit Rathee. Players retained: Arshdeep Singh, Atharva Taide, Shikhar Dhawan, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Short, Harpreet Bhatia, Rishi Dhawan, Sikandar Raza, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Gurnoor Brar, Vidwath Kaverappa.
