Earlier this year, the ICC had unveiled a series of significant revisions to international playing conditions, slated to roll out from July 2025. Chief among these was the reintroduction of a single ball in ODIs. This modification directly addresses longstanding concerns over how the two-ball system, in place for over a decade, had tilted the game heavily in favour of batters, effectively eliminating reverse swing and reducing bowlers’ potency in the latter stages of an innings

Under the previous format, two brand-new balls, one from each end, were used throughout the innings. The revised rule maintains this approach only for the initial 34 overs. From the start of the 35th over, however, just one of these two balls, selected by the fielding side, is employed for the remainder of the innings. The Sri Lanka-Bangladesh encounter thus marked the first official application of this new regulation

Additionally, the ICC clarified that if a match is reduced to 25 overs or fewer before it commences, only a single new ball will be used for the entire innings

Critics of the two-ball system had long argued that it robbed ODIs of one of its most captivating elements, reverse swing, thereby providing an undue advantage to batters during the death overs. With bowlers struggling to find late movement, run-fests became increasingly common

Meanwhile, this is just one part of a broader suite of changes the ICC has introduced across formats. Several new regulations for Test cricket took effect last month following the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s. With ODI rules now active, attention will next turn to T20 internationals, where updated playing conditions are set to debut on July 10 during the series in Pallekele