There were 6 teams participated under the South Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 and most of the teams were representing different states from the Southern region of India. All the teams in the zone had been playing in the most popular and fruitful domestic cricket tournament in India, on a regular basis for the previous several editions. The teams included the likes of Goa, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka and all of them gave their best efforts to become one of the top three teams in the zone. The teams also tried their best to secure a berth in the Super League stage of the tournament. However, the teams like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad eventually became successful to enter into the Super League stage of the Ranji Trophy, as they earned the highest points from the zonal level league matches. The Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad teams earned total of 29, 27 and 24 points, respectively, at the end of the zonal level league matches.

The match between the teams of Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu was the first of the South Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 and the two teams played the match at Hyderabad from 29 October-01 November, 1998. The Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the drawn match. The Kerala and Goa teams played against each other in the second match of the zone and the match was held at Thalassery from 29 October-01 November, 1998. The Kerala team earned 8 points from the match by clinching a huge victory of 9 wickets and the Goa team remained pointless in the match. The third match of the zone between the teams of Karnataka and Andhra was also held during the same timing from 29 October-01 November, 1998 and the match took place at Bangalore. The match remained drawn during the specified period of time and the match officials awarded the Karnataka and Andhra teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match.

The teams of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka played against each other in the fourth of the South Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 and the match was held at Thirunelvelli from 06-09 November, 1998. Both the teams of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka earned 3 points, each from the drawn match. The next match of the zone involved the teams like Hyderabad and Kerala and the match took place at Hyderabad from 06-09 November, 1998. The match remained drawn during the stipulated duration and the match officials awarded the Hyderabad and Kerala teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match. The Goa and Andhra teams then played against each other in the next match of the zone, which was held at Panjim from 06-09 November, 1998. The Andhra team won the match with a good margin of 165 runs for earning 8 points and the Goa team remained pointless in the match.

The Andhra team appeared in the seventh of the South Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 also and this time, it played against the Kerala team at Vizianagaram from 15-18 November, 1998. The Kerala and Andhra teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the drawn match. The next match of the zone saw the Karnataka and Hyderabad teams playing against each other at Bangalore from 15-18 November, 1998. The winner of the match was the Karnataka team with a margin of an innings and 3 runs and the team earned 8 points from the match. However, the Hyderabad team failed to earn any points from the match. The Goa and Tamil Nadu teams were involved in the next match of the zone and the two teams played the match at Goa from 15-18 November, 1998. The match saw the Tamil Nadu team clinching a victory of an innings and 110 runs to earn 8 points and it also saw the Goa team remaining pointless.

The Tamil Nadu team then played against the Kerala team in the tenth of the South Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 and the match was held at Thiruvananthapuram from 24-27 December, 1998. The Tamil Nadu team earned 8 points from the match by clinching a victory of 9 wickets and the Kerala team remained pointless in the match. The Goa and Karnataka teams were involved in the next match of the zone and the match took place at Panjim from 24-27 December, 1998. The match was won by the Karnataka team with a very good margin of an innings and 73 runs to earn 8 points and the Goa team failed to earn any points from the match. The match between the teams of Andhra and Hyderabad was also held during the same timing from 24-27 December, 1998 and the match was held at Vishakhapatnam. The Hyderabad team played very well in the match for clinching a victory of 161 runs to earn 8 points and the Andhra team failed to earn any points from the match.

The next match of the South Zone saw the teams of Tamil Nadu and Andhra playing against each other at Chennai from 04-07 January, 1999. The drawn match saw the Andhra team earning 5 points and Tamil Nadu earning 3 points from it. Then, the teams of Karnataka and Kerala played against each other in the next match of the zone and the match was held at Tellicherry from 04-07 January, 1999. The match remained drawn during the specified period of time and the match officials awarded the Karnataka and Kerala teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match. The Hyderabad and Goa teams played against each other in the last of the South Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1998-99 and the two teams played the match at Hyderabad from 04-07 January, 1999. The Hyderabad team earned 8 points from the match by clinching a huge victory of 10 wickets and the Goa team failed to earn any points from the match.