David Hussey has a headache over ball handling controversy

Sydney, Feb.28 (ANI): Australian middle-order batsman David Hussey believes now that he should have let the ball hit him on the head during Sunday night's "handling the ball dispute" with India.

Though, he claims he was entitled to palm it away to protect himself, he realizes that either way, it has caused him a headache.

Hussey said he would have accepted the umpire's decision if he had been given out for sticking out his hand to stop a throw during the tense match at the SCG.

He also said that he understood the Indian team feeling aggrieved, but felt that common sense prevailed when he was reprieved.

"I was just trying to protect myself. I probably should have just let the ball hit me and then the whole situation would have been less frustrating," The Age quoted Hussey, as saying.

"I can see how the Indians are frustrated with the decision, but I certainly was protecting myself. There was no malice in stopping the ball or preventing me from being run out," Hussey told The Age.

"I just saw it and thought, 'Oh no, it's going to hit me in the head,' and I just put my hand up to stop the ball. Looking back on it, you can see both sides of the argument, you could probably give me out, not a problem, but then on the flipside, I was just protecting myself. It was probably a critical moment in the game, too, so it would have been nice just to take all the emotion out of it," said Hussey, the leading run scorer in the triangular series.

Hussey came under fire from Indian fielders after the incident, his batting partner Matthew Wade also getting involved.

Hussey said he spoke to Dhoni after the match and that the pair had "smoothed things over".

"I just wish the whole circumstance could have been avoided by just letting the ball hit me, that's the way I look at it now," he said.

The MCC laws of the game suggest Hussey could have been given out under Law 33 for handling the ball: "If a batsman willfully handles the ball with a hand that is not touching the bat without the consent of the opposition, he is out."

But there is a sub-clause, which allows the batsman to touch the ball in order to "avoid injury". (ANI)