5 players who were surprisingly handed over the captaincy 

#3 Tim Paine - Australia (Tests and ODIs)

Tim Paine

In 2017, Tim Paine was on the verge of retiring from international cricket before being picked in the Ashes squad in 2017.

Some steady performances in the series gave Paine's diminishing career a fresh lease of life. A few months later, Australia faced a serious leadership crisis as the captain and the vice-captain of the team were banned from international cricket for a year following the infamous ball tempering saga in South Africa.

The Australian selectors took a huge call and named Paine as the captain of the Australian side. Though the wicket-keeper was removed as the ODI captain following some heavy defeats, he fared a tad better in Tests.

After the initial setbacks, Paine finally found some success when Australia defeated Sri Lanka in a 2-match home series. However, Paine's biggest achievement as the Australian captain so far has been to retain the Ashes in a hard-fought series on England soil.