Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram For LSG - (Source : @RiseupPant/X.com)
On Saturday, September 13, the Durban's Super Giants roped in South Africa star batter Aiden Markram as their new skipper for the upcoming SA20 season, which begins in December 2025. The 30-year-old has had a great SA20 career as he led Surnirsers Eastern Cape to two titles and took the Men in Orange to finals in the third edition as well.
During the SA20 2026 auction, Markram was one of the most-talked-about players in the auction as a right-handed batter, who held the title for the most-expensive buy in SA20 history, a feat that lasted only a few minutes. Notably, the Super Giants went all in for the SA batter and were adamant to sign the 30-year-old.
Markram Impresses Super Giants' Group With Sensational Season
Notably, Aiden Markram impressed the Super Giants' group during IPL 2025 when the right-handed batter featured for Lucknow Super Giants, where he surprisingly played a stellar season.
The 30-year-old amassed 445 runs in 13 innings and produced his best-ever IPL season. Markram scored five fifties and helped LSG set up a perfect platform in every game. Now with Makram roped in as Durban's Super Giants captain, the fans are speculating that Markram might also be handed the leadership for Lucknow Super Giants, replacing Rishabh Pant, who had a disastrous season as LSG skipper.
Meanwhile, this article will shed light on the pros and cons of having Markram replace Pant for LSG's leadership.
Pros For Roping Markram
Aiden Markram: A Proven Captain
-Markram has proved himself as a leader across T20 leagues. As mentioned earlier, Markram led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to two titles, whereas Rishabh Pant has yet to prove his mettle as a captain in T20 leagues.
Leadership at the Highest Level
-Not just global T20 leagues, but Markram also holds the experience of leading his nation across formats. On the contrary, Pant has led India in a few T20Is, but struggled for a win during the 2022 home series against South Africa.
Calm And Composure
-Another major difference between Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram's leadership is that the 30-year-old has a calm and quiet demeanour as a captain. Whereas Pant often loses his cool at times, which was also caught on camera during IPL 2025, particularly against the youngsters.
Cons For Replacing Rishabh Pant
Mixed IPL Captaincy Record
-Markram's IPL record (SRH captain, 4 wins in 13 matches, just 30.8% win rate) shows that Markram’s proven impact in SA20 hasn't directly transferred yet to Indian conditions and IPL’s higher pressure.
Brand Exposure
-Removing Rishabh Pant as LSG captain will dent LSG's brand value, as roping in Pant during the mega-auction and appointing him as the captain helped the Super Giants gain new followers, and also pen new ad deals, endorsements, and more attraction in the stadiums. Thus, from the business point of view, removing Pant as captain will have a bad effect on LSG.
Communication With Players
-Having an Indian captain helps the young and local talents to better communicate with their leader and express their feelings, which eventually uplifts the team's performance. Whereas, several players across leagues have complained about a communication gap with overseas skippers.
Conclusion
Despite the pros and cons, it is a decision for Lucknow Super Giants to make whether they want to proceed ahead with Pant as captain, looking from the brand value and business point of view or replace him with Markram based on the South Africa star's performance across different leagues and better stats as captain.
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