The Indian Hockey Confederation recently appointed Charlesworth as the technical advisor. He was the high-performance manager for New Zealand cricket before taking up the Indian assignment. But his visit to Bangalore took the Indian camp by surprise.

Charlesworth will be in India till the end of the week and participate in discussions with top International Hockey Federation (FIH) officials including president Els Van Breda Vriesman and secertary general Peter Cohen on the sidelines of the international governing body’s executive board, development and coaching committee and other meetings, which began on Tuesday in New Delhi.

“I am in India for meetings in New Delhi with the FIH officials. There will be a press conference at the end of the week,” said Charlesworth on Tuesday. “The details of my one-year contract need to be sorted out. I will also have a lot of discussions with SAI, the Indian Hockey Confederation, IHF secretary K Jothikumaran and president KPS Gill and also the Sports Ministry.

“I had a few days off from my work in New Zealand and will take the opportunity to look at the facilities in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi and also to talk to people. I hope to be back early next month for the Premier Hockey League,” he added.

At SAI, the Indian chief coach Joaquim Carvalho and Charlesworth had fruitful discussions after the team’s morning training session.

The duo discussed the domestic scenario and the setup in various age groups and the developmental team. The structure of the senior team also came up for discussion with Carvalho briefing the Aussie.

The possibilties of playing some practice matches before the Olympic qualifiers in New Zealand and also in Australia were also discussed.

Charlesworth is one man who believes strongly in long-term planning. However, the contract to be signed with IHC will initially be for a year.

“Maybe one can’t do much in a year. But I will have the chance to find out what needs to be done. We need to put in place what is sustainable and substantial,” he said.

There are a few things that Charlesworth believes in. “I would say ignore youth at your own peril, while experience is an over-rated commodity,” he said adding: “A player may have played many, many matches but not learnt much. One has to take current form into consideration.

“India have played 17 matches this year, while about 30 is a good number. This year’s programme has been disappointing and let us not get carried away by the Asia Cup win. India also need to play bigger teams,” he felt.

But for success, Charlesworth said: “Several factors contribute to making a successful team and it is not just about the coach. Teams that are at the top have solid programmes. We need to think in the long term and I think I can be a catalyst to change.”