He was belted all over Eden Park by Brendon McCullum and smacked to all ends of the SCG by Tillakaratne Dilshan.

But Mitchell Johnson is losing little sleep over the way his bowling has been attacked, pondering whether such ruthless aggression will work in a knockout World Cup fixture.

Johnson knows bat will continue to rule over ball in the tournament, for a range of reasons.

“It’s the way the game has gone … two new balls with four fielders out makes it a little bit predictable,” he said in the lead-up to Australia’s quarter-final against Pakistan on Friday.

But the fiery left-armer is less certain fans will continue to see the same sort of audacity that Dilshan displayed in thumping six fours off one of his overs.

“I’m not stressed about it. It (being hit) is something I’ve expected throughout this tournament,” Johnson said in Adelaide.

“It will be interesting to see if (batsmen keep striking so freely now) there’s a bit more pressure on.

“Coming into a quarter-final we’ll see if guys are still prepared to play that type of cricket.

“I’m ready for whatever’s going to come at me.”

Johnson has slid into the shadows over the past month, with Mitchell Starc grabbing all the spotlight due to his outstanding form.

Starc is arguably the best one-day bowler in the world, having taken 16 wickets at an average of 8.50 in the tournament.

Johnson is far from bothered, noting he is relishing the chance to bowl first change.

“It’s worked perfectly,” Johnson said.

“He’s obviously bowling very well … he’s always performed well for us in one-day cricket. It wasn’t a surprise that he was going to perform like this through the World Cup.

“It’s probably suited the team, me bowling at first change and Starcy using that new ball and swinging the ball around.”

When it comes to his own form, Johnson is losing little sleep.

A hamstring niggle forced the 33-year-old to miss almost the entire tri-series, but he feels ready to fire at Adelaide Oval.

“I just feel like I’m starting to click now,” he said.

Johnson recorded figures of 0-68 against New Zealand and 2-62 against Sri Lanka, but suggested he hadn’t been bowling badly.

“That over against Dilshan, it wasn’t a horrific over,” he said

“I probably bowled that one short ball I wasn’t happy with … the rest were OK.”

Misbah-ul-Haq was of many Pakistani batsmen to get on top of Mitchell Johnson in the two-Test series last October.

The skipper was guarded when asked if he was confident Pakistan could curb Johnson’s influence on Friday.

“We have our own ways to play. Let’s see how we just go about that,” Misbah said after his side’s seven-wicket win over Ireland.

“It’s the time for our batsmen to just play like that the way we did today.”