How effective has the new ODI rule change been?

How effective has the new ODI rule change been?: For a while now, the batsmen had become too dominant in ODIs. The bowlers had become mere spectators and only the best bowlers would be able to stop the run flow, otherwise it was simply a one sided affair. It was then, that the ICC decided that a law was required to make the game more competitive and it came out with a decision to allow 5 fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last 10 overs and abolished the 5-over powerplay.

These rules are applicable since July 5, 2015 and even though it is only in its early days, it is fair to say that the balance between the bat and the ball has somewhat been restored. If we compare the data, since the beginning of the year until 4^th July, 90 ODIs were played and the batsmen scored at a run rate of 5.68/over. The 350 mark was breached a whopping 17 times (400 was crossed 5 times during this period), at an average of a 350+ score in every fifth game.

The spectators were bored of these monotonous run fests and wanted good competitive games where the bowlers too had a say. The change of rule facilitated that, since the adoption of the new rules, in 31 games, the run rate has dropped to 5.28/over, meaning teams are now making 20 runs lesser on an average. Not just that, the 350 mark too was breached only once in this period.

The bowlers have become more effective with that one extra fielder in the death overs where the batsmen look to score big at every opportunity they get. After 5^th July 2015, the batting averages too have gone down marginally from 33.71 to 33.59.

While we don’t have a lot of games played under new rules just yet, the sample size suggests that in the near future, we shall see more games where 250-300 range scores provide more interesting results than the high scoring ones.