Watson was dropped on four in the deep after weathering a barrage of bouncers from Wahab, but finished unbeaten on 64 and teamed up with Glenn Maxwell for a 68-run partnership to close out a dominant six-wicket victory at Adelaide Oval.
The barrel-chested Queenslander was also dropped by selectors for Australia's pool match against Afghanistan, an omission some thought might spell the end of his tournament, if not his one-day international career.
He was a surprise recall for the co-hosts' win over Sri Lanka in Sydney and scored a handy 67 in the match at the SCG when pushed down to the middle order.
Watson batted at fifth in the order against Pakistan to continue his late-tournament resurgence and earned special praise from captain Michael Clarke.
"I've said for a long time that a good mix of youth and experience in any sport at the highest level generally has the most success," Clarke told reporters.
"I think we've got that through our squad. Yeah, and I think Watto showed that today.
"Like I say, he had some luck getting dropped at fine leg, but then to be able to find a way to tough that out and then capitalise more importantly once he got through that spell, played his natural game, hit the ball really well. So yeah, I think his experience certainly helped him today."
Led by four wickets from recalled paceman Josh Hazlewood, Australia's seamers were at their intimidating best to restrict Pakistan for 213, setting up the platform for victory.
The India semi-final will promise different conditions on a Sydney Cricket Ground wicket that traditionally offers turn but was benign in Australia's pool win over Sri Lanka.
Pakistan captain Misbah questioned whether Australia might suffer at the SCG for the lack of a quality frontline spinner against India.
Clarke, an occasional left-arm tweaker, said his team would make do with part-timer Glenn Maxwell and himself, if specialist Xavier Doherty was not called up.
"I don't think a ball spun in the game we played against Sri Lanka," Clarke said. "I think it'll depend on what wicket gets prepared.
"If it does spin, we've got spinning options in our squad.
"I've got confidence that whatever 11 is selected, we play our best cricket, we give ourselves every chance of winning that game in whatever conditions."
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