The organisers of the Duleep Trophy, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named the participating teams of the tournament, once again according to their zones in the Duleep Trophy, 2003-04. Though the names were changed in Duleep Trophy, 2002-03 to group wise, the teams once again started to be called according to their zones from Duleep Trophy, 2003-04. The BCCI named the teams as the Central Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone and South Zone and they were mainly selected from five different geographical locations of India. The BCCI also invited a foreign team in the tournament for the first time in the history of Duleep Trophy and England A was the first foreign team to play in Duleep Trophy, 2003-04. The format of the tournament was league basis and the teams played against each other in the league matches with the same objective of winning the championship title in Duleep Trophy, 2003-04. The cricket enthusiasts of India liked the Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 very much, as the tournament presented some highly competitive and closely contested matches to them.

The Central Zone and West Zone teams played against each other in the first match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 and the match was held at Gurgaon from 14-17 February, 2004. The toss of the match was won by the Central Zone skipper, G Khoda and he took the decision of batting first in the match. The Central Zone batsmen gave a wonderful response to their captain`s decision, as they scored a mammoth total of 549 runs in their first innings. The captain, G Khoda led his team from the front by scoring a wonderful century of 156 runs and he got good support from some of the other batsmen. In reply to the gigantic first innings total of Central Zone, the West Zone batsmen failed to play very well and they could score 352 runs for 4 wickets in their first innings. The opener, D Jadhav became the top scorer for West Zone with 154 runs to his name. However, as the match`s stipulated duration got over by the time West Zone reached the score of 352-4, the match ended in a draw. The match officials awarded both the Central Zone and West Zone teams 1 point, each for the drawn match.

The second match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 was played between the teams of East Zone and South Zone and the match took place at Dharmasala from 14-17 February, 2004. Winning the toss, the captain of East Zone, D Gandhi decided to bat first and got good support from his batsmen. The East Zone batsmen batted well and scored a good total of 388 runs in their first innings, where the opener, S Das became the top scorer with 120 runs to his name. The South Zone batsmen also played well while replying to the first innings total of East Zone; however, they failed to surpass the total. They scored 331 runs in their first innings, before getting all out. Having a lead of 57 runs in the first innings, the East Zone team declared its second innings on the score of 216-9 and set a target of 274 runs to win for South Zone. However, the stipulated duration of the match ended when South Zone reached the score of 7-0 in the second innings and the match ended in a draw. The East Zone team earned 2 points from the drawn match, while South Zone remained pointless.

The match between the teams of North Zone and Central Zone was the third match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 and the match was organised at Gurgaon from 21-24 February, 2004. The Central Zone skipper, G Khoda won the toss and took the decision of batting first in the match. The decision was not proved to be a good one, as the Central Zone batsmen failed miserably and got all out for a small score of only 154 runs in their first innings. In reply to the first innings total of Central Zone, the North Zone batsmen showed a good batting display and scored a moderate total of 249 runs in their first innings. Playing with a deficit of 95 runs, the Central Zone batsmen once again failed to play well and scored 211 runs, before getting all out in their second innings. Thus, the North Zone batsmen needed only 117 runs in the second innings to win the match and they eventually scored 118 runs after losing only 5 wickets. The North Zone team comfortably won the match with a margin of 5 wickets and also earned 4 points from the match.

The first ever foreign team in Duleep Trophy, the England A team appeared for the first time in the fourth match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 and the team played against the South Zone in the match. The match was held at Gurgaon from 21-24 February and the South Zone skipper decided to field first after winning the toss of the match. Being put into bat first by the opponent captain, the England A batsmen played well and scored a good total of 377 runs in their first innings. K Pietersen scored a wonderful century of 104 runs for England A and M Prior also played well to score 66 runs. The South Zone batsmen could not play well while replying to the first innings total of England A and they got all out for only 174 runs in their first innings. After attaining a huge lead of 203 runs in the first innings, the England A team declared its second innings on the score of 297-8. The South Zone team required a huge target of 501 runs to achieve in the second innings to win the match and the South Zone batsmen showed one of their best batting performances in the second innings. They batted brilliantly in the second innings and eventually scored 503 runs by losing only 4 wickets to clinch a huge victory of 6 wickets over England A. The batsmen like Y V Rao (228*), S Sriram (117) and S Badrinath (100*) were the stars in South Zone`s successful run chasing. The South Zone team also earned 4 points by winning this match.

The England A team appeared in the fifth match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 also and this time, it played against East Zone at Amritsar from 27 February-01 March, 2004. The England A skipper, J Tredwell won the toss and took the decision of fielding first in the match. The East Zone batsmen showed a mediocre batting performance, after being put into bat first by the opponent captain and scored 283 runs in their first innings. The opener, S Das remained not out after scoring a wonderful century of 124 runs for East Zone, while J Tredwell took 5 wickets for 101 runs on behalf of England A. The England A batsmen could not play well in reply to the first innings total of East Zone and they got all out for a total of 225 runs in their first innings. S Paul picked up 5 wickets for 61 runs on behalf of East Zone in England A team`s first innings. Leading by a margin of 58 runs, the East Zone batsmen showed a much better batting display in their second innings and scored 308 runs, before getting all out. S Mahmood took 5 wickets for 62 runs on behalf of England A in East Zone`s second innings. The England A team required 366 runs in the second innings to win the match; however, they got all out for a score of 273 runs. Thus, the East Zone team won the match by a good margin of 93 runs and also earned 4 points.

The teams of North Zone and West Zone played against each other in the sixth match of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 and the two teams played the match at Dharmasala from 27 February-01 March, 2004. Winning the toss, the North Zone skipper, D Mongia took the decision of batting first in the match and got good support from his batsmen. The North Zone batsmen played well and scored a moderate total of 279 runs in their first innings. However, the North Zone bowlers did a great job and restricted the first innings of West Zone to a small total of only 172 runs. Leading by a good margin of 107 runs in the first innings, the North Zone batsmen scored 191 runs in their second innings and set a target of 299 runs to win for West Zone. G Gambhir scored a wonderful century of 111 runs for North Zone in the second innings. Chasing a target of 299 runs to win, the West Zone batsmen tried their best but got all out for a score of 277 runs, only 22 runs away from achieving the target. Thus, the North Zone team earned 4 points from the match by clinching a victory of 21 runs.

After the completion of the league matches, the teams of North Zone and East Zone reached the Final of Duleep Trophy, 2003-04 and they played the match at Mohali from 04-08 March, 2004. The captain of East Zone, D Gandhi won the toss and invited the North Zone team to bat first in the match. Being put into bat first, the North Zone batsmen showed a good batting display and scored a good total of 330 runs in their first innings. Y Singh scored a wonderful century of 106 runs and became the top scorer for North Zone in the first innings, while S Paul took 5 wickets for 83 runs on behalf of East Zone. The East Zone batsmen gave a good reply to the first innings total of North Zone; however, they scored 322 runs in their first innings and stayed 8 runs behind North Zone`s first innings total. K Powar played a good knock of 102 runs for East Zone, while Sarandeep Singh picked up 5 wickets for 64 runs on behalf of North Zone. The North Zone batsmen played wonderful in their second innings and scored a huge total of 400 runs to set a target of 409 runs to win for East Zone. Y Singh once again played well and scored a brilliant century of 148 runs for North Zone. Though, the East Zone batsmen tried their best and played well in their second innings, they got all out for a score of 349 runs, just 59 runs behind the target. Thus, the North Zone team won the match with a good margin of 59 runs and also clinched the championship title in Duleep Trophy, 2003-04.