Pakistan continue to lead the seven-team standings despite dropping their first points of the tournament. They have 10 points from four matches while Australia have eight points from two wins and two draws.
The top two teams after a round-robin meet in Sunday’s final.
Tahir Zaman, coach of the Pakistan team, felt his players had the better of the Olympic champions.
“It was in our minds that we were facing the Olympic champions and we wanted to show our strength and I think we did that,” Tahir said.
“They are probably the most mature side in the tournament and I think we had the better chances. We have to improve on our conversion rate because we had many chances that we did not take.”
Australian coach Barry Dancer felt a draw was a fair result.
“Overall I’m happy with the way we played,” said Dancer.
“We were lacking in a lot of basic skills such as trapping and passing but I was pleased with the way we showed composure in coming back and getting a draw.”
Shakeel Abbasi stunned the Aussies just three minutes into the game with a field goal for Pakistan, the 2003 champions. Australia fought back in the 28th minute as big defender Luke Doerner swept in a penalty corner to make it 1-1.
Pakistan narrowly failed to regain the lead on the stroke of half-time with a penalty corner that bounced off the crossbar.
However, Pakistan took a deserved 2-1 advantage eight minutes into the second half when Mohammad Imran converted a penalty corner.
Australia, who had rested captain Michael McCann, pushed forward and livewire Jamie Dwyer deflected a shot on to the crossbar in the 55th minute.
Australia’s pressure finally paid off seven minutes from time when captain for the day Livermore scored from a penalty corner.
On Wednesday, Australia face South Africa while Pakistan take on rivals India.
India took a 1-0 lead through Len Aiyappas 20th minute penalty corner, but South Korea equalised three minutes before half-time when Kim Kyung-seong smashed a loose ball high into the Indian net.
After the break, India collapsed as the speedy Koreans repeatedly caught their opponents cold with lightning-quick counter-attacks. Korea led 4-1 just 13 minutes into the second half as Kang Seong-jung scored twice and You Hyo-sik added the fourth.
It was India’s second straight 4-1 defeat following their loss to hosts Malaysia on Sunday.
Results on Tuesday:
India 1 (Len Aiyappa 20); South Korea 4 (Kim Syung-seok 32, Kang Seong-jung 42, 45, You Hyo-sik 48).
Half-time score: 1-1.
Pakistan 2 (Shakeel Abbasi 3, Mohammad Imran 42); Australia 2 (Luke Doerner 28, Brent Livermore 63).
Half-time score: 1-1.
Standings
(Tabulated under played, won, draw, lost, goals for, goals against, points)
Pakistan 4 3 1 0 9 5 10
Australia 4 2 2 0 10 7 8
South Korea 4 2 1 1 13 7 7
New Zealand 4 1 1 2 6 6 4
Malaysia 4 1 1 2 6 9 4
India 4 1 1 2 6 11 4
South Africa 4 0 1 3 2 7 1
—AFP