Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Top 3 favorites to win the trophy

Ranji Trophy is India's premier domestic competition which is played amongst various states within the country. Played every year within the months of October and February, the 4-day competition is the gateway for many budding cricketers to fall into the eyes of the national selectors.

Although selection based on IPL is increasing nowadays, players who perform in the Ranji Trophy have never been ignored as this competition is the true test of one's grit and character.

Mumbai has been the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, having won the trophy more than 40 times. Although they have failed to win the trophy in the last few years, they look set to clinch the trophy this time.

Karnataka is the second best behind Mumbai and they have dominated the domestic circuit in recent times. Many of their players have gone on to represent India and they will need their new breed of youngsters to help them perform well.

Vidharbha is the defending champions after a surprise victory last year. This year, the competition will be more interesting as many India discards will playing in the tournament.

These 3 teams are the favourites to lift the trophy in February based on their team composition and performances in recent years.

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#3 Tamil Nadu

Baba Aparjith will lead them this time

The team from South India have always failed to reach their expectations despite having a superb team and a competitive T-20 league within the state. Although they won the Vijay Hazare trophy a couple of seasons back, their performance has been disappointing to be fair.

However, Tamil Nadu now has a crop of players who are on the fringe of the national call-up, and this will motivate them to perform well this edition. Baba Aparjith, a youngster has been appointed as the captain and he will lead a team with youth and experience.

Players such as Vijay, Ashwin, Karthik, Washington Sundar and Vijay Shankar are in and out of the national team and they will be playing some games in the Ranji Trophy this year. This will complement nicely with youngsters such as N Jagadeeshan, Rahil Shah and V Koushik who will have a crucial part to play in this edition.

Tamil Nadu will hope that their past performances do not come back to haunt them, and they perform to their potential in this Ranji season.

#2 Karnataka

Karnataka will look to repeat their performances 3 years ago

Karnataka has probably been the best domestic team in recent times as they have completed a double of all the domestic competitions 3 years ago. Although last year's Vijay Hazare was the only major trophy after the historic double, Karnataka has always failed at the final stages of the Ranji season. Last year, they lost to eventual winners Vidharba in the semi-final and that has been the story in the past few seasons.

KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal have all been on the fringes of national call-up and some of them will be part of some of the Ranji matches this season.

Experienced players such as Vinay Kumar, A Mithun, Stuart Binny, and CM Gautham would look to clinch one more Ranji trophy before the end of their career.

A new breed of youngsters such as R Samarth, Prasidh Krishna and T Pradeep will try to fall on the eyes on the national selectors with their performances in this edition.

Karnataka will be one of the favourites again this time and they should avoid faltering at the final stages to avoid another disappointment.

#1 Mumbai

Mumbai are the favourites to lift the trophy this season

Mumbai is the most successful team in the history of Ranji trophy and they will look to win the trophy again this time to prove their dominance.

Mumbai have not been successful in the last two seasons and they have had multiple captains in Aditya Tare, Abhishek Nayar and Suryakumar Yadav which has added to their worries.

However, this season they have given the responsibility to young Shreyas Iyer which will help them. Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw are expected to feature in a few matches which will strengthen their batting order.

Aditya Tare is one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the domestic circuit. Suryakumar Yadav and Siddesh Lad will offer stability in the middle-order. Dhawal Kulkarni will lead the bowling attack and Shardul Thakur could play a few matches too.

Mumbai has already won the Vijay Hazare trophy and they will look to win the Ranji trophy to complete a double this year.