Pooran and Marsh getting out early 'brought the best out of Markram', says Boucher

Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh have been the heroes of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) batting in IPL 2025, but they have also had another batter silently doing his job: Aiden Markram. Mark Boucher feels that Pooran and Marsh getting out early in the match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) brought out the best in Markram, who took "smart risks" to do the job for his team.

Markram, who was picked by LSG for his base price of INR 2 crore at the auction, had a slow start to the season, but has made scores of 53, 47, 58 and 66 in four out of the last five games.

"From a mental space, he [Markram] would have come into the IPL not in the biggest contract. You're playing with Marsh and Pooran, you probably felt that he'd be the guy to take the backward step there," Boucher said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut. "I think when Marsh left for personal reasons, that's when Markram sort of came into his own because he almost adopted that 'I'm the senior player here' [position]. And with Marsh and Pooran getting out [early in this game], I thought that brought the best out of him as well."

In the match against RR, Marsh and Pooran fell within the powerplay. Markram stepped up with a 45-ball 66 to do the repair job for LSG. He did not take too many risks, hitting five fours and three sixes in his 45-ball stay. At the end of the day, he was at No. 6 on the Orange Cap table.

Markram had earlier said that sticking to his game, and not trying to emulate Pooran and Marsh's approach of hitting "sixes for fun", had helped him. LSG did need the sixes, though, and they cam later in the innings from Abdul Samad, whose ten-ball 30 not out was a game-changing effort.

"Aiden is a natural leader and he is leading South Africa for those reasons as well," Boucher said. "So when an opportunity like that arises, he'll take it on himself to say, 'Right, I'm the guy who they trust now to bat through the innings and if there's a risk to be taken and a smart risk at that, I'm the guy who'll have to do that'. So it almost forces his hand, which I think sometimes brings the best out of player, certainly brings the best out of Markram."

Starting as an opener for South Africa in 2019, Markram was pushed down the order in T20Is in 2021 and has been playing at No. 3 or 4 since then, barring one match in 2024 when he opened. Boucher feels that move helped Markram expand his game and has made him an "all-round" player in the format. At LSG, he's slotted in as an opener alongside Marsh.

"Taking a batter who was always an opener, moving him to the No. 4 position [for South Africa] because he was young enough to be able to make the adaption and was good enough to make an adaption as well, he learned how to play spin in the middle, so he learned different shots - reverse laps and all that type of stuff - which you have to do to keep growing as a player," Boucher said. "Now towards the prime of his career, he moved back to opening. So he can do the opening role, he's got a good enough technique, he's a Test player as well, he's got the aggression up front and effort if the game does go into the middle, he's got that game as well. So he's developed as a player and a more all-around player."