The Central Zone of the Ranji Trophy 1976-77 was comprised of a number of 5 teams, all-coming from the Central region of India. The teams that played against each other under this zone included the likes of Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Railways, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. They competed against each other in the league matches for becoming one of the top two teams in the zone and also to secure a birth in the knock out level of the tournament. However, the teams like Railways and Uttar Pradesh eventually became successful to get into the knock out level of the tournament from the Central Zone.

The Vidarbha and Railways teams played against each other in the first of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1976-77 and the match was held at Nagpur from 13-15 November, 1976. The drawn match saw the Railways team earning 5 points and Vidarbha earning 3 points from it. The next match of the zone was played between the teams of Rajasthan and Railways at Kota from 20-22 November 1976. The match remained drawn during the stipulated duration and the match officials awarded both the Rajasthan and Railways teams 2 points, each for the match. The Rajasthan team appeared in the third match of the zone also and this time, it played against the Uttar Pradesh team at Bikaner from 26-28 November, 1976. The match was also a drawn one and it saw the Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan teams earning 5 and 3 points, respectively from it.

The teams of Railways and Madhya Pradesh played the fourth of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1976-77 and the match took place at Delhi from 09-11 December, 1976. The Railways team played wonderfully in the match and clinched a huge victory of 173 runs for earning 8 valuable points from it. The Railways team then played against the Uttar Pradesh team in the next match of the zone that was held at Delhi from 13-15 December 1976. The Uttar Pradesh and Railways teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match, as it remained drawn during the stipulated duration. The next match of the zone involved the teams like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the teams played the match at Jubbulpore from 18-20 December 1976. Playing very well in the match, the Madhya Pradesh team won it by a huge margin of 8 wickets and it earned 8 valuable points from the match, as well.

The seventh of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1976-77 was held at Nagpur from 18-20 December, 1976 between the teams of Vidarbha and Uttar Pradesh. The drawn match saw the Vidarbha and Uttar Pradesh team earning 5 and 3 points, respectively from it. There was a clash between the teams of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in the next match of the zone and the match took place at Bhilai from 24-26 December, 1976. The match saw the Uttar Pradesh team winning by a very good margin of an innings and 92 runs and also earning 8 valuable points. The clash between the teams of Vidarbha and Rajasthan was held in the next match of the Central Zone at Amaravati from 24-26 December, 1976. The winner of the match was the Rajasthan team with a margin of 5 wickets and the team earned 8 points from the match, as well. The Vidarbha team appeared in the last of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1976-77 also and this time, it played against the Madhya Pradesh team at Nagpur from 29-31 December 1976. The Madhya Pradesh team played extremely well in the match and eventually clinched a huge victory of an innings and 163 ruins for earning 8 points from the match.