Australian captain Ricky Ponting admits he entertained the idea that a tie would be better than a win during his side's Champions Trophy pool game against Pakistan.

Several scenarios swirled through Ponting's mind as his side's batting collapsed chasing Pakistan's 6-205 in Centurion on Wednesday.

From what looked a safe passage through to the semi-finals when Ponting and Mike Hussey were together at 2-140, Australia slumped to 8-187 within an hour against Pakistan bowlers Naved-ul-Hasan, Asif Mohammad and Saeed Ajmal.

A Pakistan win would have opened the door for their rivals India to reach the semi-finals at Australia's expense by overtaking them on run-rate.

While Australia wobbled against Pakistan, India were on their way to thrashing the West Indies in Johannesburg.

And India had the advantage of knowing, if Australia lost, what run-rate they would require in pursuit of the West Indies' 129, given their game began later.

But Australian tail-enders Brett Lee and Nathan Hauritz produced a match-winning partnership after coming together with 19 runs needed to win.

Lee hit a single off the penultimate ball of the match which levelled the scores and put Australia into the final four, as they could not be overtaken by India.

But at the time Ponting thought a tie would be good, as it would have given the Australians an extra day's rest after a busy past few months.

"If we had of just got the draw we would have had an extra day off and would have been playing New Zealand," Ponting said after the game.

"The way things have been going for us, we've been pretty busy of late.

"We've had game, day off, game, day off, game, day off.

"That extra day off might have been nice."

But Lee and Hauritz did not share the same view.

When Hauritz missed Umar Gul's final delivery, Lee scampered through for the winning bye as Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal's under-arm just missed the stumps.

Australia had won, were top of the group and were playing England in Friday's semi-final.

After pondering the benefits a tie would have brought, Ponting's competitive streak flashed back.

"We're happy to finish top of the our table to tell the truth," he said.

Several Pakistan players appealed to the umpires that Lee had taken off early from the non-striker's end, but skipper Younus Khan later graciously paid credit to Australia's tail.

"That is the beauty of the game, it was good from Australia to hold their nerves," said Younus, whose side will play New Zealand in a semi-final on Saturday.

"If it was any team other than Australia they would go out with some rash shots and it was very fantastic from Brett Lee and Hauritz as well.

"That is why they are the champions."