'Everyone was in tears'- Axar Patel recalls the dressing room atmosphere when MS Dhoni retired from Test Cricket

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni have always shared a great bond as they have played together for a really long time. Not only did they play together for the Indian team, but they also shared the dressing room during the Indian T20 League for Chennai. Raina has always been vocal about his admiration towards the ex-Indian captain. Axar Patel recently revealed that Suresh Raina cried when the legend announced his retirement from Test Cricket.

Dhoni's decision to retire came on the 30th of December after the third Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ended in a draw. It was during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15. While recalling the incident, Patel stated that the news was broken to them on the evening of Day two. He said that everyone was emotional when Ravi Shastri called all of them, and made the announcement.

"He announced it the next day itself, on the evening of the second day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The atmosphere had changed. Everyone was quiet and Ravi bhai called for a meeting. 'Everybody… we have to make an announcement. Mahi is retiring'. Raina started crying. I was like 'What just happened? Everyone around me was tearing up. I was in another world, 'What just happened? What is going on?'," Axar told Gaurav Kapur during their chat on the show 'Breakfast with Champions.'

Adding to it, he said that he got a little emotional as well. Dhoni then cracked a little joke with him and then hugged him, the left-hander recalled.

"I didn't even know what to say. It was the first time I was meeting Mahi bhai. But before I said anything, he only said: 'Bapu (Axar's nickname… you arrived and made me leave? I was like 'what did I do?'. Then I teared up… I just arrived and he is leaving. He said that he’s just joking and then hugged me," he added.