The Central Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 saw a number of 5 teams playing against each other in the zonal level and all the teams were from the Central region of India. The teams included the likes of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Uttar Pradesh and Railways and they tried their best to become one of the top two teams in the zone. Securing a birth in the knock out level of the tournament was also one of the principal objectives of the teams and the teams like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh eventually became successful to do so from the zone.

The teams like Madhya Pradesh and Railways played in the first of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 and the two teams played the match at Bilaspur from 17-19 November, 1979. The match remained drawn during the stipulated period of time and the match officials awarded the Railways and Madhya Pradesh teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match. The second match of the zone involved the teams like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and the match was held at Durg from 23-25 November, 1979. The drawn match saw the Madhya Pradesh team earning 5 points and Uttar Pradesh earning 3 points fro it. The match between the teams of Vidarbha and Railways was the third one in the Central Zone and the teams played the match at Nagpur from 23-25 November, 1979. The match also remained drawn during the specified duration of time and it saw the Railways and Vidarbha teams earning 5 and 3 points, respectively from it.

The fourth of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 saw a clash between the teams of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the match took place at Agra from 30 November-02 December, 1979. The Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match, as it remained drawn during the stipulated duration of time. The next match of the zone was played between the teams of Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh and the teams played the match at Nagpur from 30 November-02 December, 1979. The drawn match saw the Madhya Pradesh team earning 5 points and Vidarbha earning 3 points from it. The Vidarbha team appeared in the next match of the zone also and this time, it played against the Rajasthan team at Ajmer from 12-14 December, 1979. The Rajasthan team played wonderfully in the match and clinched a victory of 9 wickets for earning 8 valuable points from it.

There was a clash between the teams of Railways and Uttar Pradesh in the seventh of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 and the clash took place at Delhi from 12-14 December, 1979. The Uttar Pradesh and Railways teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match, as it remained drawn during the specified duration of time. The Railways team then clashed with the Rajasthan team in the next match of the zone that was held at Delhi from 16-18 December, 1979. The closely contested match saw the Rajasthan team winning by a narrow margin of only 14 runs and also earning 8 valuable points. The clash between the teams of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh took place in the next match of the zone at Jaipur from 28-30 December, 1979. The Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the drawn match. The last of the Central Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 was played between the teams of Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha at Bareilly from 29-31 January, 1980. The drawn match saw the Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha teams earning 5 and 3 points, respectively from it.