Director of Cricket Mike Hesson and Head Coach of RCB Sanjay Bangar’s contracts to be under review after not qualifying for IPL 2023 play-offs (Image – RCB Twitter)
Failure of not making the play-offs in IPL 2023 has meant that Mike Hesson and Sanjay Bangar’s contracts to be under review.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have decided to review the contracts of Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson and Head Coach Sanjay Bangar as there are high chances that they might be revamping their coaching staff ahead of next season. The duo has been part of RCB’s coaching set-up for the past few years, Hesson joined the franchise in 2019, while Bangar was promoted as head coach in 2022.
The contracts of the IPL coaching staff are up for renewal in September and RCB has indicated that their performance is being reviewed before coming to a decision.
The franchise released a statement which said, ” Their contract with RCB is still intact. The team is still in the process of review. We will come back if any announcement is made.”
Meanwhile, both Bangar and Hesson didn’t share their reaction on the matter concerning their contract with RCB.
Despite not winning the IPL, the side had a decent run under Hesson’s tenure as coach and then as director of cricket.
In 2020, Hesson was in charge and guided RCB to a fourth in the league but lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator.
The next season, RCB finished third but yet again lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In IPL 2022, RCB found themselves in the playoffs yet again by finishing fourth in the season but lost Qualifier 2 to the Rajasthan Royals.
In the most recent season, however, the side did not manage to make it to the playoffs.
Hesson was also made responsible for the Royal Challengers Women’s team for the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League. The side captained by Smriti Mandhana only managed to finish fourth in the five-team league.
Former RCB captain and team icon Virat Kohli shares a great camaraderie with both Hesson and Bangar but now the franchise might look to make some changes in their coaching set-up to bring up new ideas. Kohli also stepped down as franchise captain after IPL 2021 as veteran Proteas batter Faf du Plessis took over the charge from the 2022 edition.
Meanwhile, RCB are currently evaluating their options and have not officially parted ways with the Hesson and Langer, Lucknow Super Giants have already made a big move. The Lucknow-based franchise replaced Andy Flower with Justin Langer as their new head coach.