Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians clt20.com

The 2014 Champions League T20 is the sixth edition of the tournament and will be held in India from 13 September to 4 October.

Mumbai Indians have won the Champions League T20 twice and are the only team to have won the competition on more than one occasion. They are the defending champions and would be looking to retain the title with a win.

IBTimes UK brings you all you need to know about the Champions League T20 event, starting on Saturday.

Teams

This year's event will see 12 teams taking part in the Champions League T20. Eight teams will start the tournament from the group stages, while the remaining four teams will feature from the qualifiers. Only two teams from the qualifiers will make it to the next round of the tournament.

The top three teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will seal a place in the group stages. In addition to this, the winners and the runners up from the Big Bash League and the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, along with winners of the Caribbean Premier League will also make it directly to the group stages.

The team which finished fourth in the IPL will make it to the qualifiers and they will be joined by the winners of the HRV Cup, Faysal Bank T20 Cup and Super 4's Twenty20.

Perth Scorchers
Getty

The teams which have made it to the group stages of the 2014 Champions League T20 are Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, Perth Scorchers, Hobart Hurricanes, Dolphins, Cape Cobras and Barbados Tridents.

Meanwhile, defending champions Mumbai Indians, along with Northern Districts, Lahore Lions and Southern Express will battle it out in the qualifiers in order to make it to the group stages.

Format

Qualifiers

The four teams which have made it to the qualifiers will play against each other. The winning team will be awarded four points, while the losing team will not be awarded any points. In case there is no result, each team will be awarded two points.

The top two teams will make it to the group stages, while the bottom two will be knocked out of the tournament.

Group Stages

The 10 teams will be divided into two groups, Group A and Group B. Each group will consist of five teams and they will face each other during the group stages. The point system will be the same as that of the qualifiers and the top two teams from each group will make it to the semifinal of the Champions League T20.

Group A: Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Perth Scorchers, Dolphins, Qualifier 1

Group B: Kings XI Punjab, Hobart Hurricanes, Cape Cobras, Barbados Tridents, Qualifier 2

The team which finishes on top of Group A will face the second placed team of Group B in the first semifinal clash. The table topper of Group B will play the runner up of Group A in the other semifinal tie.

Evan Gulbis
Evan Gulbis of the Hurricanes celebrates the wicket of Craig Simmons of the Scorchers during the Big Bash League Final. Getty

The winners of these two matches will play in the final on 4 October at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

Venues

The 2014 edition of the Champions League T20 will see the games being held at four venues across India. The qualifier fixtures will take place at Raipur's Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium, along with two group stage matches.

The remaining group stage matches will take place at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad and Bangalore's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Players

If the player is associated with two teams, he is free to choose the team he wants to play in. However, if the player is associated with an IPL team, he will have to forgo a percentage of his salary to join the non-IPL team.