Sanjay Bapusaheb Bangar (born 11 October 1972,
Bid,
Maharashtra) is a retired
Indian cricketer. He was an
all-rounder and had represented
India in
Test and
One Day Internationals.
Bangar began his career playing in the youth teams of
Maharashtra and
Bombay, but at state level he made his name representing
Railways who he has played for since the 1993-94 season. He often opens both the bowling and batting for Railways due to his lively medium pace bowling and sound defensive batting technique.
In the 2000-01 season, Railways reached the final of the
Ranji Trophy where they lost to
Baroda. The following season, they went one better and defeated Baroda to win the competition. Bangar's performances had caught the eyes of the selectors and he was called up to the Indian squad for their matches against
England in the 2001-02 season .
In only his second Test, he scored 100 not out against
Zimbabwe at
Nagpur batting at number 7. In the 2002 tour of England, he was promoted to open the innings at
Headingley after some poor performances by
Wasim Jaffer. He responded with his most important innings for India and made a patient 68 on the first day in an invaluable partnership with Rahul Dravid in difficult swinging and seaming conditions. Later on in the same match he also chipped in with two important wickets to set up a rare innings victory for India away from home.
Bangar was named as part of India's squad for the
2003 Cricket World Cup, but his performances for India began to tail off....
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