The East Zone in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 was comprised of a number of 4 teams that were the regular ones, coming from the Eastern region of India. The teams included the likes of Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Bihar and they played against each other in the zonal level first with an objective to become one of the toppers in the zone. The main reason behind their this objective was that, the tournament organisers would allow only the top two teams from every zone to get into the knock out level of the tournament. The top teams competed against each other in the knock out level tournament for the championship title. The teams like Bengal and Bihar were the teams that entered into the knock out level from the East Zone.

The East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 started with the match between the teams of Orissa and Assam and the match was held at Cuttack from 22-24 November, 1979. The Orissa team played well in the match and defeated the Assam team by a margin of 7 wickets for earning 8 valuable points from the match. The next match of the zone was played between the teams of Orissa and Bengal at Cuttack from 27-29 November, 1979. The Orissa team played well against the mighty Bengal team to keep the match drawn and as a result, the Bengal and Orissa teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match.

The Bihar and Assam teams then clashed with each other in the third of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 and the two teams played the match at Digwadi from 27-29 November, 1979. The Bihar team got a very good start in the tournament, as it won this match by a huge margin of an innings and 162 runs and earned 8 valuable points from the match, as well. The next match involved the teams like Bengal and Assam and the match was held at Calcutta from 02-04 December, 1979. The Bengal team came back nicely from its draw in the first match against Orissa, and clinched a victory of an innings and 11 runs against the Assam team in the match. The Bengal team also earned 8 valuable points from the match.

The clash between the teams of Orissa and Bihar took place in the next match of the zone and the match was held at Rourkela from 02-04 December, 1979. The match remained drawn during the stipulated duration and the Bihar and Orissa teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the match. The last of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1979-80 was played between the most powerful teams of the zone, Bengal and Bihar and the teams locked their horns together at Dhanbad from 15-17 December, 1979. The match went on to be drawn during the specified period of time and the match officials awarded the Bengal and Bihar teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match.