[Watch] Anrich Nortje and Rashid Khan involved in heated exchange during SA vs AFG 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals

Things heated up during the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals between South Africa and Afghanistan in Trinidad on Wednesday, June 26. Afghan captain Rashid Khan was welcomed at the crease with a sledge by Anrich Nortje.

The incident took place in the seventh over of Afghanistan's innings. Nortje tried to get under Rashid's skin by saying something to him on the last two balls of the over.

The Afghanistani spinner was visibly upset by Nortje's antics and even walked towards South African skipper Aiden Markram for a chat. You can watch the video of the heated exchange below:

Nortje won the battle against Rashid as he sent him packing with a fiery delivery in the 11th over. Rashid was completely undone by the pace and his off-stump went for a toss.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first in the semifinals. However, the decision backfired as their wickets fell like nine pins. They were bundled out for a paltry score of 56, with Azmatullah Omarzai being the only one to get into double digits (10).

Marco Jansen and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up three wickets each, while Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada took two wickets apiece. South Africa chased down the modest total in just 8.5 overs to clinch a nine-wicket win and advance to the 2024 T20 World Cup final.

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"The conditions didn't allow us to do what we wanted" - Rashid Khan on Afghanistan's batting flop show in 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals

At the post-match presentation, Rashid Khan spoke about how Afghanistan struggled to execute their plans in the 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals. He pointed out that the conditions made it tough for them.

Rashid said:

"It was tough, tough for us as a team. We might have done better but the conditions didn't allow us to do what we wanted. That's how T20 cricket is, you need to be ready for all conditions. I think they bowled really well."

The 25-year-old opined that while Afghanistan had a memorable T20 World Cup campaign, they still needed to show some improvement as a batting unit, adding:

"It is just the beginning for us, we have the confidence and belief to beat any side. We just need to keep our processes. This has been a great learning experience for us. What we take from the competition is the belief. We know we have the skills, it is just about managing tough situations, pressure situations. Some work to be done, specially in the middle order to take the innings deep. As I said, it is always learning for our team and we have achieved good results so far but we will come back doing more hard work, specially in the batting department."

South Africa are set to play their first World Cup final. They will face the winner of the second semifinals featuring India and England in the summit clash on Saturday, June 29.