Kolkata Knight Riders announced Ajinkya Rahane as their captain after almost all the other IPL franchises had confirmed their leader. Rahane had a very good domestic season, leading Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 title as the highest run-scorer, but appointing a 36-year-old, whose last T20I was nine years ago, as captain of the team that won the IPL last year was never going to be straightforward.

It didn't look like Rahane was KKR's first choice as captain. He was, after all, picked up in the accelerated auction at his base price of ₹1.50 crore after going unsold initially. When they released Shreyas Iyer, the three-time IPL champions became the first franchise to let go of their IPL-winning captain.

When they spent ₹23.75 crore - the third-most in the mega auction - to bring back Venkatesh Iyer, the popular notion was that he would get the captaincy nod. But he didn't. KKR handed over the captaincy to Rahane, who has a wealth of experience both as a batter and as a captain, but whose stocks as a T20 batter are on the fall.

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Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara said KKR were unsure about their captain till the start of the season and that created more confusion among all the other players.

"They didn't have clarity with their captainship. When the season started whether it was Ajinkya Rahane or Venkatesh Iyer. When you have uncertainty before the start of the season, and if you don't have clarity about the important decisions that you need to make as a leader, then it also plays on the other players' minds. If you don't know who your leader is, there are a lot of questions going around in the dressing room," Pujara told ESPNCricinfo.

Aaron Finch, who was a part of the KKR squad a couple of seasons ago, said if they had retained Shreyas Iyer, he could have played a major part in the formation of the squad.

"When you're going to the auction table, if you've got a clear understanding of who your captain is then you can work with him. You obviously have retained him, he is a part of your group. You can understand how he would want to use certain players and get a better understanding of how he would want the squad to be," Finsh said.

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