AFTER being in the CPL and IPL bubbles for four months, Mitchell Santner is set to kick off the international home season with additional responsibilities.

In the absence of both Kane Williamson and Tim Southee for the third T20I at the Bay Oval, Santner will step in as captain and with Ajaz Patel still under an injury cloud, the spin-bowling all-rounder has also been added to the Test squad.

Santner said that he was looking forward to his captaincy debut and dashing out of Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ). New Zealand’s IPL contingent cleared all three coronavirus tests and they leave Christchurch to join their national team-mates in Auckland today, a day before the T20I series opener against West Indies.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool obviously. It’s a privilege to play for your country, let alone captain it,” Santner said during a virtual media interaction. “Definitely very excited for the opportunity and looking forward to catch up with the boys … and join them in Auckland.

“Pretty confident (to resume playing). We’ve got a good group down here and we’ve had some help – Baz (Brendon McCullum) and stuff is here – which is good. We’ve had some great facilities in Lincoln that they’ve put on for us.

“It’s been probably four months now (in bio-secure bubbles) and I’m definitely ready to get out of here. Yeah, it’s going to be pretty exciting to see the lads tomorrow and play some cricket again.”

Santner has played 44 T20Is so far and is New Zealand’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in the format, with 52 scalps, behind Southee, Nathan McCullum, and Ish Sodhi. He has also been part of Chennai Super Kings side in the IPL in the past couple of years, and also made his CPL debut, for Barbados Tridents, earlier this year.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead said that Santner’s T20 experience could make him a good captain as they plan for the future.

“I guess when we looked at a one-off game, we started looking at who were the people we were looking to the future and Mitch has a lot of experience through the CPL and IPL and being with the international team for a long period of time,” Stead said.

“So, it’s somewhat a trial to find out how that goes and it’s part of our planning towards further down the track when we look at the future as well. He’s still a young man, has plenty of time left in the game, so it’s an opportunity to see how he performs in that role.

As for Santner, he said that he was open to leading New Zealand in the future if the management continues to rotate the players in T20Is.

“I’ve played a little bit of T20 cricket now under a few different captains, so it’s a great experience to be able to do this and put my spin on it,” Santner said. “T20 cricket is quite fickle and can be quite challenging at times, so definitely looking forward to the opportunity.

“I guess with the schedule we’ve got, we’re obviously looking forward to the back-to-back World Cups coming up. I guess there’s going to be a little bit of rotation with the Test boys coming and going. So, it gives me an opportunity in the future if the other guys aren’t available as well.”

While Santner conceded that life in the bubble has been difficult, he also reckoned that the past four months have given him a chance to pause and reflect.