The ICC has made an important adjustment to the powerplay rules in men’s T20 internationals. From July onward, the length of the powerplay will now be rounded to the nearest ball instead of the nearest over when matches are shortened due to interruptions.
Currently, a full 20-over innings starts with a six-over powerplay. But under the old system, reducing innings length could create disproportionate powerplays due to rounding up or down to the nearest over.
More Precise Powerplay Lengths
With the updated regulation, a shortened innings will have a powerplay that more accurately reflects the intended percentage. For example, if the innings is reduced to eight overs, the powerplay will be exactly 2.2 overs, not rounded to two or three overs. Likewise, a nine-over innings will feature a 2.4-over powerplay, maintaining the roughly 30% share.
According to the ICC:
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻20 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔.”
The change was endorsed by the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee, which believes this method is fairer and more consistent:
“𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝑪𝑪 𝑴𝒆𝒏’𝒔 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅,” 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝑪𝑪 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔.
How It Works in Practice
In a shortened eight-over match, umpires will now signal the end of the powerplay after two balls of the third over. At that point, fielding teams can move three more players outside the inner circle.
Other Significant Changes
This update to powerplay lengths is part of a broader set of playing condition changes recently approved by the ICC:
- The introduction of a stop clock in Test cricket to help manage slow over-rates
- A new protocol to review whether catches were fair even when the delivery is a no-ball
- Trials allowing full-time playing replacements for serious injuries in domestic first-class cricket
While some of these adjustments have already come into effect for the 2025–27 World Test Championship cycle, the revised white-ball rules will all apply starting July 2.
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