The East Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 saw the participation of all the 5 regular teams that were playing in the tournament for the previous several editions. The tournament is quite famous all over the world for being the premium domestic cricket tournament in India and the East Zone teams were mainly representing different states from the Eastern region of India. The teams included the likes of Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and Tripura and all the teams gave their best efforts for becoming 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 Orissa, Bengal and Bihar could eventually do so from the zone.

The match between the teams of Bengal and Orissa was the first of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 and the two teams played the match at Calcutta from 03-06 November, 1996. The match remained drawn during the specified duration of time and the match officials awarded the Bengal and Orissa teams 5 and 3 points, respectively for the match. The teams of Bihar and Tripura played against each other in the second match of the zone and the match was held at Jamshedpur from 03-06 November, 1996. The Bihar team played very well in the match and clinched a victory of an innings and 29 runs for earning 8 points and the Tripura team remained pointless in the match. The third match of the zone involved the teams like Assam and Bengal and the match took place at Guwahati from 12-15 November, 1996. The Bengal team earned 8 points from the match by clinching a victory of 8 wickets and the Assam team failed to earn any points from the match.

The Bihar and Orissa teams then played against each other in the fourth of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 and the match was held at Bihar from 12-15 November, 1996. The Bihar team played very well in this match also and clinched a huge victory of 9 wickets to earn 8 points from the match. The Orissa team remained pointless in the match. The next match of the zone was played between the teams of Assam and Orissa and the match took place at Guwahati from 11-14 December, 1996. The winner of the match was the Orissa team with a very good margin of 8 wickets and the team also earned 8 points from the match. However, the Assam team could not earn even a single point from the match. Then, the Bengal and Tripura teams played against each other in the next match of the East Zone and the match was held at Calcutta from 11-14 December, 1996. The match was won by the Bengal team with a wonderful margin of an innings and 35 runs to earn 8 points and the Tripura team remained pointless in the match.

The seventh of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 involved the teams like Assam and Bihar and the two teams played the match at Guwahati from 20-23 December, 1996. The match saw the Assam team winning by a good margin of 4 wickets for earning 8 points and it also saw the Bihar team remaining pointless. The next match of the zone saw the teams of Tripura and Orissa playing against each other at Agartala from 20-23 December, 1996. The winner of the match was the Orissa team with a wonderful margin of 188 runs to earn 8 points and the Tripura team failed to earn any points from the match. The Bengal team then played against the Bihar team in the next match of the zone and the match was organised at Calcutta from 28-31 December, 1996. The match remained 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. The last of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1996-97 was played between the teams of Tripura and Assam and the two teams played the match at Agartala from 28-31 December, 1996. The Assam team played very well in the match to clinch a huge victory of an innings and 327 runs and it also earned 8 points from the match. However, the Tripura team remained pointless in this match, as well.