The recommendation for rule change has reportedly come from the ICC’s Cricket Committee, led by former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, and will be discussed further in a board meeting in Zimbabwe. read more The ICC had introduced the two-ball rule in ODIs in October 2011 in order to make the game more batting-friendly. Reuters The International Cricket Council (ICC) is considering the idea of tweaking the two-ball rule in One-Day Internationals in an attempt to improve the balance between bat and ball in the modern game, which finds itself heavily tilted in favour of batters. According to Cricbuzz, the recommendation is believed to have been made by the ICC’s Cricket Committee, led by former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and will likely be discussed in a board meeting in Zimbabwe on Sunday. Advertisement The Dubai-based global governing body for the sport had implemented the rule of having a new ball from each end in October 2011, six months after hosting the 10th edition of the World Cup, in an attempt to make the game more batting-friendly. The ICC, however, doesn’t intend to scrap the rule altogether. Under the proposed amendment, the fielding side will continue bowling with two new balls until the 25-over mark – at which point they will have to choose which ball they want to continue with for the remainder of the innings. Why the ICC’s two-new-ball rule has been controversial The rule has since faced criticism for taking away reverse swing from bowlers by effectively limiting a ball to a maximum of 25 overs – a little more than the wear and tear it goes through in the Twenty20 International format where the same ball is used from both ends. Spinners too have had problems bowling with a ball that is harder. Among its critics are Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who had described it as the “perfect recipe for disaster”. A ball, however, could end up lasting 38 overs in a game if the ICC’s latest proposal sees the light of the day. While balls made by various manufacturers are in use in Test cricket, Australian sports goods manufacturer Kookaburra has a monopoly when it comes to ODIs and T20Is, the two white-ball international formats. Besides doing away with two new balls in ODIs, the ICC considering introducing in-game clocks in Test cricket in order to manage over rates better. In-game clocks are already in use in white-ball cricket and the ICC plans to have an upper limit of 60 seconds between overs to boost the probability of 90 overs being bowled in a day’s play. Advertisement The board is also planning to conduct the Under-19 World Cup for men in the 20-over format instead of 50 overs, which has been the case since the inaugural edition in 1988. The ICC has so far conducted two U-19 World Cups for women in the shortest format, in 2023 and 2025.