To try and fix the imbalance between batting and bowling in One Day Internationals, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is changing the two-new-balls rule, which has been around for ages. This change, announced on June 27, 2025, is part of a set of bigger rule changes across all formats, and it’s meant to bring back some balance, which a lot of people think has been too much in favor of batters for more than ten years.
The new rule says that ODIs will still start with two new balls, but only for the first 34 overs. After that, the team fielding gets to pick one of the two balls—whichever one is in better condition—to use for the last 16 overs. The idea is to let the ball get worn down more, which could bring back reverse swing and different kinds of bowling in the later part of the innings.
This new two-ball rule will start on July 2 in an ODI series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The ICC said that they will use two new balls for the first 34 overs of an ODI innings, after which the fielding team will select one of the balls for the remaining overs.
The old rule, started in October 2011, said to use two new balls—one from each end—throughout an ODI innings. Because of that, each ball was only in play for 25 overs. The rule was originally meant to keep the ball clean and hard for longer, but it ended up making reverse swing disappear and reduced how important spinners were, especially in those crucial last overs.
Before that, ODIs used just one ball for the whole innings. Umpires would change the ball only if it got too worn out or discolored. This older way let the ball wear down and allowed for reverse swing, making bowling in the last overs more unpredictable and .
This rule change is happening because of some pretty telling stats. Since the two-new-balls rule started in October 2011, there have been 415 matches where teams scored more than 300 runs. But in the 40 years between the first ODI in 1971 and September 2011, there were only 335 games with scores that high.
This rule change is happening because the Sourav Ganguly-led ICC Cricket Committee suggested it to the board’s chief .
Sachin Tendulkar, who used to captain India, said years ago that the two-new-balls rule was “a perfect recipe for disaster” because it stopped bowlers from being able to use an older ball to work with for reverse swing.
Tendulkar said in a post that they have not seen reverse swing, which is part of the last overs, for a long time. Brett Lee, a former Australia pacer, agreed and said there needed to be a change.
Ravichandran Ashwin, an India spinner, also kept bringing up the issue, like recently on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat. Ashwin said that Reverse swing is gone from the game now. The role of finger spin has also been reduced and warned that the 50-over format was not good and could become not needed if things did not change.
With the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa coming up, the ICC is stepping in at the right time. People are starting to worry about how good and if people care about ODI cricket anymore because of all the T20 leagues now. By letting bowlers have more of an impact, especially at the end of innings, the ICC wants to get people interested again and make the 50-over format more balanced.