(CMC) – Experienced seamer Shakera Selman said high-flying West Indies Women would remain grounded as they go in search of their third straight win, against India Women at Seddon Park here, today (Friday, 21:00hrs Eastern Caribbean time).

The Caribbean side have been the surprise of the ICC Women’s World Cup, beating hosts New Zealand a week ago then following up earlier this week with another shock victory over reigning champions England.
With the two wins, Selman warned teams would now be gunning for West Indies, leaving the remainder of the group stage as a tough assignment.

“Obviously, (it’s been) really good to get off to a good start,” Selman told a media conference here yesterday.
“We’re pumped to have won our first two games especially against two highly ranked sides – two teams we haven’t done well against in recent times.

“First time we’ve beaten New Zealand in New Zealand, and the first time we’ve beaten England in an ODI World Cup, so we’re really excited as a team.

“But we’re not getting carried away. We know that we’re going to have to keep fighting. It is going to get harder – our coaches have reminded us that we came into this world pretty much under the radar.
“Now teams are going to be focusing on us, so we know it’s going to get tougher.”

Both victories came in dramatic circumstances – West Indies defending 259 in Mount Maunganui to beat New Zealand by three runs with a ball to spare and then also defending 225 to get the better of England by seven runs with 14 deliveries left in Dunedin.

Prior to the start of the tournament, West Indies had enjoyed very little success against either side and the Stafanie Taylor-led side find themselves in the same position against India, having lost five of their last six meetings.

India, one of the pre-tournament favourites, have struggled especially in their batting losing one of two games, and Selman said West Indies have taken notice with the hope of capitalising.
“We obviously have discussed it as a team. We saw the change from Shafali Verma to Yastika (Bhatia) at the top,” Selman said about India’s batting.

“We have no idea what they will bring tomorrow but we are prepared for whatever they try.
“We have been doing well with the ball and we’re just going to focus on our strengths and hopefully it turns out that we will be able to exploit their weaknesses.”

She added: “I think our off-spinners are probably looking at their batting lineup, but like I said, we have no idea what change we will make tomorrow.

“The good thing for us is that Shafali didn’t do well in the first game either so maybe it’s more an issue for the India team to figure out who they are going to send against us.”
West Indies are one of three teams with perfect two-out-of-two results, along with Australia and South Africa.