Three star cricketers, including vice captain Virender Sehwag, were conspicuous by their absence from the nets even as Team India's cold war with the media continued for the fourth day running today. No national cricketer came forward to speak to the huge press contingent at the Lady Bay Ground here after absence of Sehwag from the nets only added grist to the rumour mills.

Apart from Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma could not be spotted at the nets. Dozens of mediapersons -- from print, electronic and web -- had assembled in huge numbers to cover the practice session but were left frustrated when no representative of the defending champions made himself available to the press.

"It was optional and there was no definite assurance that a cricketer would be made available to the press," informed manager Anirudh Chowdhary. Since skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a show of strength in front of assembled media on the eve of the opening match against Bangladesh last Friday, only man-of-match Pragyan Ojha has spoken to media even though the presence of skipper is mandatory after a match, according to ICC guidelines to teams in this tournament.