Johannesburg, May 24 Twelve teams will contest in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) tournament to be played in India from October 8-23.

The tournament will feature three teams from India (two finalists and the top league finishing team), top two domestic T20 teams from South Africa, England, Australia and the domestic T20 Champions from New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

A total of 23 matches will be held in CLT20 carrying a prize pool of $USD 6 million.

The teams will be divided into four groups of three each and will initially play each other on a league basis. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the second stage and four teams from the second stage would make it to the semi-finals, it was announced here Sunday.

The tournament was scheduled to be held in India last year but was postponed because of the Mumbai attacks.

The Royal Challengers, Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils will represent India, Victoria and New South Wales will represent Australia, while the Cobras and Eagles will the two South African teams.

The tournament is a joint venture by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

Lalit Modi, Chairman, CLT20, said, "I believe we have a concept that will inspire and motivate the future generations of club, state and county cricketers, while accelerating the development of the game globally."

"Our South African experience has taught us that the club concept is slowly but surely being accepted by cricket fans across the world."

James Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of CA, and Gerald Majola, Chief Executive of CSA, were also present during the announcement.