All the regular five teams that had been playing against each other under the Central Zone in the tournament for the previous several years took part in the Ranji Trophy, 1990-91 also. The tournament is considered as the leading domestic cricket tournament in India and the teams in the Central Zone were mainly representing different states from the Central region of India. The participating teams in the Central Zone included the likes of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh and Railways.

These teams played against each other in the zonal level with the view of becoming one of the top two teams in the zone and also to get a chance for competing in the knock out level of the tournament. The teams like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh eventually became successful to clinch the top spots in the zone. They earned total of 60 and 50 points, respectively from the zonal level league matches and they also competed against the top teams of the other zones in the knock out level for the championship title.

The Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan teams played against each other in the first of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1990-91 and the match was held at Bhopal from 20-23 November, 1990. The match remained drawn during the stipulated period of time and the match officials awarded the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan teams 13 and 9 points, respectively for the match.

The second match of the zone involved the teams like Vidarbha and Uttar Pradesh and the two teams played the match at Nagpur from 20-23 November, 1990. The match also remained drawn during the specified period of time and the Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha teams earned 14 and 13 points, respectively from the match. The Railways team played against the Madhya Pradesh team in the third match of the Central Zone and the match was held at Delhi from 27-30 November, 1990. The Madhya Pradesh team played very well in the match and clinched a victory of 6 wickets for earning 16 points from it. The Railways team also earned 5 points from the match.

The Madhya Pradesh team appeared in the fourth of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1990-91 also and this time, it played against the Vidarbha team at Bhilai from 04-07 December, 1990. Playing wonderfully in the match, the Madhya Pradesh team clinched a huge victory of 9 wickets to earn 19 points and the Vidarbha team earned 2 points from the match, as well. The next match of the zone was played between the teams of Uttar Pradesh and Railways and the two teams played the match at Lucknow from 04-07 December, 1990. The drawn match saw the Railways team earning 12 points and Uttar Pradesh earning 9 points from it. The teams of Railways and Vidarbha then played against each other in the next match of the Central Zone and they played the match at Delhi from 11-14 December, 1990. The Railways team earned 20 points from the match, by clinching a victory of 59 runs and the Vidarbha team earned 8 points from the match, as well.

The match between the teams of Vidarbha and Rajasthan was the seventh of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1990-91 and the match was held at Nagpur from 27-30 December, 1990. The Rajasthan team played very well in the match and clinched a huge victory of 10 wickets for earning 19 points and the Vidarbha team also earned 5 points from the match. The teams of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh then appeared against each other in the next match of the zone and the two teams played the match at Kanpur from 01-04 January, 1991. The Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh teams earned 12 and 10 points, respectively from the drawn match. The Rajasthan and Railways teams played against each other in the next match of the zone, which was held at Udaipur from 03-06 January, 1991. The drawn match saw the Railways and Rajasthan teams earning 9 and 5 points, respectively from it.

The Rajasthan team appeared in the last of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1990-91 also and this time, it played against the Uttar Pradesh team at Jodhpur from 09-12 January, 1991. The Uttar Pradesh team earned 17 points from the match, by winning it with a very good margin of 6 wickets and the Rajasthan team earned 6 points from the match as well.