The Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 comprised of five zonal teams that had played in the tournament on a regular basis in all the previous editions. The teams, being selected by the BCCI from different geographical locations of India, were representing their respective zones in the tournament. The BCCI selected the teams according to the zonal format that was followed in the Ranji Trophy at that time. The teams were named as the Central Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone and South Zone and all of them played with a common objective of winning the championship title. Almost all the teams were of same strength in the tournament; however, the teams like West Zone, North Zone and South Zone had a bit advantage over the others. The main reason behind this was their past performances in the Duleep Trophy. However, once the tournament started, all the teams gave their best efforts to win the championship title and as a result, the Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 became a highly competitive tournament.

The teams of South Zone and North Zone played against each other in the first match of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 and the match was held at Trivandrum from 23-26 October, 1981. The captain of South Zone, G Viswanath won the toss and decided to bat first in the match. The South Zone batsmen played quite well in their first innings, as they scored a good total of 225 runs, before getting all out. The South Zone innings was almost single-handedly carried by the famous batsmen B Patel, as he became the highest scorer for the team with 126 runs to his name. Madan Lal caused most of the damage to the South Zone batting line on behalf of North Zone, as he took 7 wickets for only 49 runs. While replying to the good total of South Zone, the North Zone batsmen could not bat that much well in their first innings. They scored 118 runs for 5 wickets when the match ended for some unavoidable reasons. The match officials declared the South Zone as the winner of the match on toss of a coin. The South Zone team also reached the Semi-Finals of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 by winning this match.

The first Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 was played between the teams of Central Zone and West Zone and the two teams played the match at Nagpur from 30 October-02 November, 1981. Winning the toss, the Central Zone skipper, P Sharma took the decision of batting first in the match. The Central Zone batsmen failed to give much support to their captain`s decision, as they got all out for a small score of only 144 runs in their first innings. D Parsana picked up 7 wickets for 46 runs on behalf of West Zone in Central Zone`s first innings and helped his team restricting the opponent`s innings to such a low total. The West Zone batsmen made a wonderful use of the advantageous position that the bowlers put the team in and scored a huge total of 356 runs for 7 wickets in their first innings. S Gavaskar scored a brilliant century of 164 runs for West Zone and he got good support from S Patil, who scored 54 runs. The West Zone team took a huge lead of 212 runs over Central Zone in the first innings. The Central Zone batsmen never looked to be comfortable while batting in the second innings with such a huge deficit and they could score only 158 runs, before getting all out. This time, K Ghavri and R Shastri took 4 wickets, each for West Zone to help the team clinch a huge victory of an innings and 54 runs. The West Zone team entered into the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82, by winning this match.

In the second Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82, which was held at Cuttack from 30 October-02 November, 1981, the teams of East Zone and South Zone played against each other. The match saw the East Zone skipper, D Doshi winning the toss and deciding to bat first. The East Zone batsmen scored a good total of 257 runs in their first innings, while batting first in the match. J Arun Lal played a wonderful century knock of 104 runs for East Zone and helped his team to get the good total on the scoreboard. The South Zone batsmen gave a wonderful reply and comfortably surpassed the East Zone`s first innings total, while batting in their first innings. The South Zone team scored 281 runs in the second innings, where K Srikkanth contributed the most by scoring 81 runs. V Mohanraj also played nicely to score 67 runs and help South Zone taking a lead of 24 runs over East Zone in the first innings. D Doshi took 6 wickets for 78 runs on behalf of East Zone in South Zone`s first innings. Trailing by 24 runs in the first innings, the East Zone batsmen played well in the second innings and their captain declared the innings after reaching the score of 241-7. The South Zone team was chasing a target of 218 runs to win, in the second innings; however, they got all out for a small score of only 142 runs. A Jaiprakasham took 6 wickets for 38 runs on behalf of East Zone in South Zone`s second innings and helped his team clinching a victory of 75 runs in the match. The victory also ensured a berth for East Zone team in the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82.

The West Zone and East Zone teams were involved in the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1981-82 and the two teams played the match at Bombay from 05-08 November, 1981. The East Zone team batted first in the match, as its skipper, D Doshi decided so after winning the toss. The captain`s decision got a wonderful support from the teammates, as the East Zone batsmen scored a wonderful total of 327 runs in the first innings. J Arun Lal contributed the most to the East Zone innings, as he played a superb knock of 109 runs for his team. P Roy gave good support to Arun Lal by scoring 90 runs. B Sandhu and R Shastri took 4 wickets, each for West Zone in East Zone`s first innings. Though, their opponent got a good total on the scoreboard in the first innings, the West Zone batsmen never got demotivated and scored an even bigger score of 431 runs in their first innings. R Shastri and D Vengsarkar became the top scorers for West Zone with 134 runs and 108 runs, respectively to their names. R Singh and D Doshi took 4 wickets, each for East Zone. The East Zone team could reach the score of 138-5 in their second innings, when the stipulated duration of the match got over and the match eventually ended in a draw. The West Zone team declared as the winner of the match for having a lead in the first innings. The West Zone team also lifted the championship title in the Duleep Trophy, 1981-82, for the second consecutive time.