Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the few teams in Indian Premier League history to have competed in every year of the tournament without ever taking home the title.
So will 2023 finally be the year for RCB? The IPL team of India icon Virat Kohli are looking fairly strong for the coming season, now with Faf du Plessis as captain and England seam bowler Reece Topley picked up in the latest draft, as well as big-hitters Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell and Will Jacks.
But what about the coach and the coaching team?
The Sporting News profiles the RCB coach and assesses his experience ahead of the 2023 IPL campaign getting under way...
MORE: IPL substitute rules, explained: T20 competition introduces 'tactical subs' for 2023 season
Who is the RCB coach?
Former India international all-rounder Sanjay Bangar is the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He's been in the post since November 2021, with last year's season his debut as a head coach in the IPL.
Bangar had previously worked as a batting consultant for RCB. He took over the main coaching role from ex-Australian batter Simon Katich who stood down after the UAE leg of IPL 2021 for personal reasons.
What is Sanjay Bangar's coaching record?
angar has a wealth of experience, although not much of it comes as a head coach. He was India's batting coach from 2014 until 2019 and was named Kings XI Punjab's assistant coach in 2014, later being promoted to head coach that same year before departing in 2016.
As a player, Bangar notched up 12 Tests for India and 15 ODIs and featured for the Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the IPL.
"Sanjay is very good at building relationships with players," said RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson when appointing Bangar to the role.
"He does that through his expert knowledge and is able to build those relationships over time with players and support staff, which is a key element that we're obviously looking forward to in terms of growing our group and developing our group at RCB into real title contenders, not only next year but in the years to follow as well."
MORE: Latest IPL 2023 betting and odds
Who are the other RCB coaches?
Mike Hesson is the man above Bangar in the chain of command, as director of cricket at RCB.
In Bangar's coaching team are batting and spin coach Sridharan Sriram and bowling coach Adam Griffith – a former Australia international. Malolan Rangarajan works as head of scouting as well as the fielding coach.
WATCH: 20 Greatest T20 Players Roundtable
