diff --git a/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4c.yml b/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4c.yml
index 5fe1d8c7fda..a198852be91 100644
--- a/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4c.yml
+++ b/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4c.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,23 @@
 # Azure Pipelines (VSTS) configuration for CI builds for ICU.
 
 trigger:
+  batch: true
+  branches:
+    include:
+    - main
+    - maint/maint-*
   paths:
     include:
-    - icu4c/*
+    - icu4c
+
+pr:
+  branches:
+    include:
+    - main
+    - maint/maint-*
+  paths:
+    include:
+    - icu4c
 
 
 variables:
diff --git a/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4j.yml b/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4j.yml
index 7221898fd32..bcd4113d8c3 100644
--- a/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4j.yml
+++ b/.ci-builds/.azure-pipelines-icu4j.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,23 @@
 # Azure Pipelines (VSTS) configuration for CI builds for ICU.
 
 trigger:
+  batch: true
+  branches:
+    include:
+    - main
+    - maint/maint-*
   paths:
     include:
-    - icu4j/*
+    - icu4j
+
+pr:
+  branches:
+    include:
+    - main
+    - maint/maint-*
+  paths:
+    include:
+    - icu4j
 
 variables:
   MAVEN_ARGS: '--show-version --no-transfer-progress'