The Bangladesh Cricket Board are looking to strengthen the national team’s backroom setup with the capture of Sanjay Bangar.
The former India batting coach is being targeted to fill a batting consultant role in red-ball cricket. The BCB want him onboard in time for the two-match home Test series against Australia in June.
Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said: “We have spoken with Bangar [for Test batting consultant] but nothing is finalized yet. We are also negotiating with few others as well.”
The vacancy is available due to South African Neil McKenzie not wanting to coach all formats. He is currently Bangladesh’s white-ball consultant but doesn’t want to extend the role further.
“McKenzie is looking after the red-ball cricket despite being a white ball consultant and till we get a batting consultant for Test cricket we are expecting him to do the job,” Chowdhury added.
Bangar previously worked with the India team between 2014 and 2019 and also had a spell as the team’s head coach in Zimbabwe in 2016 and West Indies in 2017. He was replaced by Vikram Rathour following last year’s World Cup in England.
Changes in the ODI setup
The BCB’s hopes of bolstering the Test coaching team follow recent changes to their ODI side.
Tamim Iqbal has been named as the captain of Bangladesh’s ODI team earlier this month. He takes over from Mashrafe Mortaza, who was replaced after the three-game series success over Zimbabwe.
Tamim had previously skippered the ODI side against Sri Lanka in Mortaza’s absence. The BCB now hope that their new captain will lead the team for a long time after choosing not to make it a series-by-series arrangement like in the past.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan said: “We have selected Tamim as our captain for a long period of time.
“There is no guarantee, but we have selected him for a substantial amount of time. Initially, we wanted to select for a short term and then wanted to select someone next year as the full-time captain.
“But at the end of the board meeting, we wanted Tamim to lead the side for a long period of time.”
