The four teams that played under the East Zone of the Ranji Trophy, 1973-74 included the likes of Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa, all the regular participants of the tournament. The teams played against each other first in the zonal level and then the top two teams of the zone went on to compete with the top teams of the other teams in the knock out level of the tournament. Though all the teams tried very hard, only the teams like Bengal and Bihar became successful to enter into the knock out level of the tournament, as they were the toppers in the zone.
The first of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1973-74 was played between the teams of Orissa and Assam at Cuttack from 11-13 December, 1973. The Orissa and Assam teams earned 5 and 3 points, respectively from the drawn match. The Orissa team played the second match of the zone against the Bengal team at Sambalpur from 16-18 December, 1973. The Bengal team got a very good start in the tournament, as it won this match by a huge margin of 172 runs and also earned 8 valuable points from the match.
The next match of the East Zone saw a battle between the teams of Bihar and Assam at Patna from 16-18 December, 1973, where the Bihar team thrashed the Assam team by a huge margin of 9 wickets. The Bihar team earned 8 points from the match, as well. The Assam team appeared in the fourth of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1973-74, as well and this time, it played against the Bengal team at Calcutta from 21-23 December, 1973. The Bengal team played wonderfully in this match and clinched a victory of an innings and 132 runs for earning 8 points from it.
The Orissa and Bihar teams clashed with each other in the next match of the East Zone and the match was held at Baripada from 22-24 December, 1973. Playing well in the match, the Bihar team won by a margin of 54 runs and earned 8 points from the match. The last of the East Zone league matches in the Ranji Trophy, 1973-74 saw a clash between the two most powerful teams of the zone, Bengal and Bihar and the two teams played the match at Jamshedpur from 28-30 December, 1973. The match remained drawn during the stipulated period of time and as a result, the match officials decided to award both the Bengal and Bihar teams, 3 points each for the match.
