The Central Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02 consisted all the 5 regular teams that were mainly coming from the Central region of India. Most of the teams were representing different states from the Central region of India in the premium domestic cricket tournament in India. The teams included the likes of Railways, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh and Railways and they tried hard for clinching one of the top spots in the zone. All the teams also tried their best to secure a berth in the knock out level of the tournament, however, only the teams like Railways, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan could eventually do so from the zone. The Railways, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan teams earned total of 269, 19 and 16 points, respectively from the zonal level league matches to enter into the knock out level of the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02.

The first of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02 was played between the teams of Railways and Uttar Pradesh and the two teams played the match at Delhi from 20-23 October, 2001. The Railways team thrashed the Uttar Pradesh team by a huge margin of 10 wickets for earning 8 points from the match and the Uttar Pradesh team remained pointless in the mach. The teams of Rajasthan and Vidarbha played against each other in the second match of the zone and the match was held at Jaipur from 20-23 October, 2001. The Rajasthan and Vidarbha teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the drawn match. The next match of the zone involved the teams like Railways and Rajasthan and the match took place at Delhi from 27-30 October, 2001. The match remained drawn during the specified period of time and the match officials awarded the Railways and Rajasthan teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match.

The Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh teams appeared in the fourth of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02 and the match was held at Indore from 27-30 October, 2001. The drawn match saw the Madhya Pradesh team earning 5 points and Uttar Pradesh earning 3 points from it. The Uttar Pradesh team appeared in the next match of the zone also and this time, it played against the Rajasthan team at Kanpur from 03-06 November, 2001. The Uttar Pradesh team earned 8 points from the match by clinching a victory of 3 wickets and the Rajasthan team failed to earn any points from the match. The next match of the Central Zone involved the teams like Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh and the match took place at Nagpur from 03-06 November, 2001. The Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match, as it remained drawn during the specified period of time.

The Madhya Pradesh team appeared in the seventh of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02 also and this time, it played against the Rajasthan team at Jaipur from 10-13 November, 2001. The Rajasthan team won the closely contested match with a narrow margin of only 3 wickets and earned 8 points form it. However, the Madhya Pradesh team could not earn even a single point from the match. The Vidarbha team then played against the Railways team in the next match of the zone and the match was held at Nagpur from 10-13 November, 2001. The winner of the match was the Railways team with a huge margin of 10 wickets and the team also earned 8 points from the match. However, the match saw the Vidarbha team remaining pointless in it. The Vidarbha team was a part of the next match of the zone also and the team played against the Uttar Pradesh team in this match. The match took place at Kanpur from 22-25 November, 2001 and it saw the Uttar Pradesh team winning by a margin of 155 runs. The Uttar Pradesh team earned 8 points from the match and the Vidarbha team failed to earn any points from the match. The last of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 2001-02 involved the teams of Madhya Pradesh and Railways and the two teams played the match at Indore from 22-25 November, 2001. The Railways team earned 5 points and Madhya Pradesh earned 3 points from the drawn match.