Chennai Super Kings' problems in a lacklustre Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign may well have begun at the player auction in November, coach Stephen Fleming said after the five-time champions slumped to their seventh defeat in nine games.
Chennai bought 20 players in the two-day auction in Jeddah but have struggled to identify their best combination in this season's tournament, unlike in the past, and New Zealander Fleming put his hand up to take some of the blame.
"It's hard to say we got it completely right with the performances we've had. We've been looking over that in detail, around our style of play, and also at how the game is evolving," Fleming told reporters.
"It's not easy. That's why we're proud of our record today, that we've been able to be consistent for so long and it doesn't take much for it to go another way.
"Other teams have got better and that's the point of the auction. But we just haven't been able to get it right. So you take responsibility from the top down and then you just ask a little more of the players."
A debut for South Africa's Dewald Brevis in Friday's five-wicket defeat by Sunrisers Hyderabad meant that bottom-placed Chennai have used 22 out of their 27 players this season.
"It's also not perfect science. The auction is a very fluid beast. It's like buying 25 houses so you come away at the end of it mentally and physically exhausted. I still think we've got a good squad. We're not far away," Fleming said.
"A couple of key injuries, a lack of form. We've struggled to nail a game plan. We've chopped and changed too much.
"There's a lot of responsibility and soul-searching and it starts with me at the top, 100 per cent."