KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27: The fans are after him, the media is chasing him, and rival team officials want him to retire quickly. You guessed it right, he is Shahbaz Ahmed, who at 34 is still as popular as he was when he led Pakistan to World Cup victory in Sydney eight years ago.

“We want him to hang his boots quickly,” Belgian coach Giles Bonnet said of Shahbaz after Pakistan had beaten them 3-2 on Monday. “He is the kind of player who can trouble any defence and his presence on the pitch can make a lot of difference.”

The pencil thin forward came out of retirement hoping to turn around Pakistan’s ailing fortunes at last November’s Champions Trophy in Rotterdam. He was unable to do much there, but played an important role in his side’s victory in a six-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

Now he is back in Kuala Lumpur in his role as playmaker, and after a quiet first game against South Africa, showed flashes of his past brilliance against Belgium. He sent through defence-splitting passes and made dangerous runs that seemed to outwit the Belgian defenders. No wonder then why all eyes are on him.

Indian coach Cedric D’Souza also was unhappy with the state of the pitch on which they were held 2-2 by Japan.

He begged the press corps from his country to keep believing in the team and not to crucify them just yet. The plea was made after India were dealt a blow to their chances of making it to the semifinals by Olympic silver medallists Korea who beat them 2-1.

“No one comes to lose the match,” he said. “We have worked very hard for the past one and half year and we are going to fight till the end.” The Koreans had everybody behind the ball and there are days when things do not work out as planned.”

There are between 15 to 20 Indian journalists in Kuala Lumpur, a venue where India won their only World Cup in 1975.