All the four regular teams of the Central Zone were present there in the Ranji Trophy, 1970-71. The teams were coming from the Central region of India and they included the likes of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Uttar Pradesh. The teams tried their best to become one of the top two teams in the zone, while competing with each other in the zonal level. They also gave a lot of efforts to get a chance in the knock out level of the tournament and compete with the top teams of the other zones for the trophy. However, only the teams like Rajasthan and Vidarbha became successful to do so from the zone.

The teams of Vidarbha and Rajasthan took part in the first of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1970-71 and they played the match at Nagpur from 30 November-02 December, 1970. The Rajasthan team won the match comprehensively by a margin of 9 wickets and earned 8 valuable points from it. The Vidarbha team then played against the Uttar Pradesh team in the second match of the zone and the match was held at Nagpur from 05-07 December, 1970. The Vidarbha team nicely came back from its first match defeat and won this match by margin of an innings and 34 runs. The Vidarbha team earned 8 points from the match, as well.

The match between the teams of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was the third of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1970-71 and the match was held at Indore from 05-07 December, 1970. The Rajasthan team continued its good form in this match also and became the winner of the match with a margin of an innings and 12 runs. The Rajasthan team appeared in the next match of the zone also and this time, it played against the Uttar Pradesh team at Ajmer from 12-14 December, 1970. The Rajasthan team finished its zonal level matches with a very good performance in this match, as it won the match by a huge margin of an innings and 75 runs. The Rajasthan team also earned 8 valuable points from the match.

The Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha teams then clashed with each other in the fifth of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1970-71 and the match took place at Gwalior from 12-14 December, 1970. The Vidarbha team played very well in this match and clinched a convincing victory of 7 wickets to earn 8 points from it. The last match of the Central Zone was played between the teams of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and the match was held at Indore form 16-18 December, 1970. The match was drawn during the stipulated duration and the match officials awarded the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match.