It's Terry Walsh vs Narinder Batra now

It's not just about hockey now. Operational issues aside, Terry Walsh's return as head coach of the Indian hockey team will depend on one man — Hockey India president Narinder Batra.

A day after deciding to stand by his resignation and fly home, the Australian said on Wednesday there is a clear lack of trust between Batra and him, and that the former's conduct lately smacks of ulterior motives.

"Well, I greatly appreciate the efforts put in by the government and Sports Authority of India (SAI) over the last few days in trying to implement the changes that are so badly required in Indian hockey," Walsh told dna on Wednesday. "Obviously, the same can't be said about HI. There is clearly a lack of trust between Batra and me, and there are clearly some ulterior motives behind his allegations lately that are directly attacking my reputation."

The HI president has, over the last few weeks, accused the Australian of trying to blackmail HI and the country, and also of committing "financial fraud" during his time with USA Hockey for using a software which Walsh had developed along with a company named Sportstec.

"I am deeply hurt by his conduct, to be quite honest. Those are some serious allegations, and none of which are true," Walsh said.

According to Walsh, Philip Jackson, the managing director of Sportstec, has already refuted Batra's allegations. Why, he has even written to Batra, saying that the statements he made were factually wrong and that the matter was closed two years ago.

"The letter itself proves that the allegations are completely false. But that still doesn't stop all the muck that has been thrown around my name. That's a big problem. I want him to come out and clear the air on this and take back his statements. He should really stand up and say what he wants. And he should do that pretty darn soon," Walsh said.

The 60-year-old Australian is set to fly home on Wednesday evening, and said he will look at the fresh proposals and arrive at a final decision by the weekend.

"Look, I have been left really confused and frustrated by all the developments lately. I haven't seen the fresh proposal, but it should reach me by the time I land in Australia. It will require concentration, some serious reading, work and manoeuvring, and also a large degree of alteration from their part. There seems to be friction between Batra and the programme. I mean he talks about his vision and agreement with the programme, but he should back his words with action. He is making all these allegations, but there hasn't been even a sentence of appreciation from him on our Asian Games win. What does that say?" Walsh said.

Clearly, the issue seems to have shifted from functional autonomy and paid leave to the animosity between Batra and Walsh now.

"Well, I have no animosity towards him. It is all from his end, and the timing of it tells me clearly that there are ulterior motives," Walsh said.

The two-time Olympian had two rounds of meetings with the six-member committee after his arrival from Australia. He also met sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday, who agreed to all his demands in principle but talks still remained inconclusive.

Is he disappointed that things could not be sorted in time? "Yes, of course," Walsh said. "But as is the case with most things here, they were left to the last minute. And then, suddenly, Batra started singing a different tune. It's almost like something new keeps cropping up every single day!" Walsh said with a chuckle.

So what were the issues that remained unresolved? "Firstly, the trust mechanism is the most important of all things. That is the one major piece of the puzzle. Second, there has to be a serious delegation of authority. One person can't be making all the decisions. Mind you, I'm not interested in that; my role is to coach the Indian national team. There's a high-performance group which needs to be entrusted with the responsibility to taking decisions," Walsh said.

The Australian reiterated that the issue of Batra will be needed to be addressed primarily before he can even look at the other proposals. "Well, there are some changes that I've suggested which they promised to put in the new proposal. But it doesn't matter what is in the proposal now. It's the other part which has to change," Walsh said.

Despite all the mud-slinging and failed negotiations, Walsh said he wants to come back to India to fulfill his promise of building an efficient team.

"We've completed a significant part of the job by producing the results that we have. Our task was not only to go to the 2016 Olympics, but have an efficient team that can compete there. I want to build a structure that focuses on longevity. A lot of people can hardly see that. But that's not my role. I am keen about Indian hockey. I'm keen about converting a team that can compete from a team that everyone knows will be beaten. Strangely, it's become attractive to me. I've become so attached with the group. I feel for it," Walsh added.

So is he hopeful that he will be back, despite the adverse circumstances? "Well, I was the one that initiated this. So I'll be the one to decide. Let's see where we are once I get the fresh proposal. I'm in a much better position today than I was 48 hours ago, where it looked completely out of sorts. But I can't be putting up with all this every single time," he said.