The Asia Cup cricket tournament was not postponed due to India's refusal to play Pakistan, a UAE cricket official has said.

Instead, the tight schedule of both India and Pakistan was responsible for the rescheduling of the five-nation tournament which was to be held in Karachi in April, Mazhar Khan, UAE representative at ICC, was quoted by the Gulf News as saying on Monday.

Khan said there was no clash between Asia Cup and the Asian Test championship which will go ahead as scheduled.

"The choice was not of either staging the Asia Cup or the Asian Test championship. Both are separate and will be held at different dates," he said.

The tournament featuring India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Hong Kong will, in all probability, be held next year.

© PTI