One of the gutsiest allrounders in Indian domestic cricket, Bangar was a lucky mascot for the Indian Test team during his year-long run at international cricket. Barring his last two Tests in New Zealand, India didn't lose any of the 12 Tests he featured in, even registering three rare overseas victories.

While Bangar will be remembered for his 68 at the top of the order in the Headlingley Test in 2002 that paved way for the famous trio of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly to score centuries and set up India's victory, he ended his two-decade first-class career as one of the most prolific allrounders in domestic cricket. When he retired, Bangar was one of only two cricketers to achieve the double of 6,000 runs and 200 wickets in the Ranji Trophy, alongside Vijay Hazare. Bangar led the Railways team to three domestic titles and was one of the pillars behind the team's transition from also-rans to a domestic force.

Post retirement, Bangar took up coaching. He was initially in charge of the India A side and a consultant at the BCCI's National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, before he was called up to the Indian team after the Test series leg of their tour of England in 2014 as the batting coach. He would stay with the Indian team over a five-year uninterrupted period. The highlights of his coaching tenure were Virat Kohli's ceiling-breaking feats in Test and ODI cricket, the rise of Rohit Sharma as an ODI behemoth, and a first-ever overseas Test series win in Australia.

Bangar also had a stint as the head coach of Kings XI Punjab, who reached the IPL 2014 final under his tenure, which remains their best-ever result in the competition.
Amol Karhadkar, Saurabh Somani