Tom Bruce and India are no strangers to one another. The 34-year-old visited the country with the senior New Zealand squad in his first year as an international cricketer in 2017. He has since led a New Zealand A team on a tour to the country in 2022.

More significantly, it was a trip to India in 2013 that set his cricketing journey in motion, pushing him to pursue it full-time. Training at Bengaluru's Jain Academy for three weeks with his fellow Kiwi compatriots - including Will Young - who funded the trip themselves, the early seeds of a swashbuckling batter were sown.

"I was probably a late bloomer to professional cricket," Bruce tells Cricbuzz on the sidelines of the ongoing T20 World Cup. "I started when I was 23, had four years at Uni where I probably enjoyed more off the field than I did on the field. I didn't actually have a great record playing club cricket down in Christchurch and then it was only a trip to India with my local coach at the time, Debu Banik, and a few other cricketers that really ignited my passion for cricket and also just made me want to really give cricket a good go."

The following year, Bruce made it to the Central Stags team in New Zealand. But he also had an eye on the Scotland senior setup, by virtue of his father's Scottish roots. Conversations were initiated with Grant Bradburn, the then Scotland head coach, although Bruce had to serve a standdown period which eventually deferred those plans.

Fate had other ideas, as a New Zealand cap came his way in 2017 on the back of a burgeoning reputation as a match-winner in T20 cricket back home. He would play 17 T20Is for the Black Caps over the next three years. By his own admission, he has improved as a cricketer since then, even if the depth of New Zealand's resources kept him out of the national side.

"Unfortunately, at the time I didn't do myself or my talent justice in those three years," he says. "I was probably trying to be someone that I wasn't. Certainly since that experience, since 2020, I've played much better cricket. I'm probably better off the older I've got and the more experience I've got. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to adapt or to learn or to get better on the international stage at that time. But it's only been beneficial for me."

With a burning desire to play international cricket retained, Bruce earned his second shot in 2025 when he morphed into one of the game's latest dual internationals.

"At the time, Doug Watson was the coach when we were talking around switching allegiances to try and play for Scotland," Bruce relates. "We earmarked this T20 World Cup, the 2027 ODI World Cup and then in '28, there's another T20 World Cup. So, we looked at it from afar as three World Cups in three years would be pretty special if Scotland could make it there. It's been nice having a change of allegiances. It was unfortunate we originally missed out on this (tournament) but to get a last-minute call-up was pretty special. The new coach, Owen Dawkins, and I have been chatting around just what the future holds as well, and hopefully trying to play as much cricket as I can for Scotland."

So here he is. As a Scotland international at the T20 World Cup. In India.

Yet the story of how he made it here actually begins a generation ago. Tom's father, one of four brothers, spent the first five years of his life on a farm near Edinburgh. Then came a decisive shift as the four brothers and their parents sailed on a six-week voyage to start life on a small dairy farm in Eltham, New Zealand.

Like most kids growing up in New Zealand, Tom Bruce picked up the cricket bat in his backyard. Except in his case, those sessions would commence in the night at boarding school. All while watching Nathan Astle's buccaneering strokeplay in awe, and harbouring a silent admiration for the menacing Australian side which, according to him, was 'pretty inspiring'.

Yet he was always familiar with his Scottish heritage - one that he experienced at the time that he first tried his hand at representing the country.

"Growing up... it was always known when all the Bruce clan would get together, their Scottish accents would come out quite a bit more. But it was probably in 2016, when I was playing club cricket for Netherfield in the UK and I was close to Scotland, I was travelling up there every second week to play some cricket and do some training. At the time, my grandma came over with one of my cousins and she took us to where my dad and all his brothers had grown up. She took us around their family farm. We went on and door-knocked and the people residing there were very nice and accommodating.

"So my grandma was showing us all the trouble that the boys got up to and where they farmed up in Edinburgh. It was probably only that year and seeing all that in person that you understood where they had been born and raised for those first five years, and what a special place it was. It was very emotional for my grandma at the time, reliving those times. And it certainly meant a lot to be over there at that time with her."

The final arc of the story of how Bruce came to be in India this month, took place last month.

Bruce had played a couple of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 fixtures for Scotland in August and September last year, but with Scotland failing to qualify for the T20 World Cup, his dream of playing three ICC tournaments for Scotland in three years remained a dream alone.

That was until tensions between the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the ICC over the former's refusal to play their T20 World Cup games in India meant that Plan B was in the works. Scotland, the highest ranked team among those who didn't make the cut for the World Cup, were the ultimate beneficiaries.

On what appeared to be nothing more than another January morning in New Zealand, Bruce was gearing up to lead the Central Stags in a Super Smash game the following day. At the back of his mind lingered the possibility of a trip to India. Then the news broke.

"My phone had gone flat overnight and I walked into breakfast," Bruce recalls. "Ajaz Patel and Brett Randall were there. They just shook my hand and said, 'Congratulations, you're going to the World Cup.' Because it was the early morning, I hadn't really registered what they were saying. I thought they were having a wee joke on me or something like that. But then I got to know Scotland was going to the World Cup and they'd been invited. Once I did get my phone back on charge, I had about 200 WhatsApp messages from the Cricket Scotland group just asking everyone to sort visas and where they'll be flying from."

Acknowledging the whirlwind few days that saw him scramble and make travel arrangements to India, Bruce is candid about the good fortune involved in taking part in the World Cup.

"They were a very busy few days there but it was certainly very exciting. But like everyone, (I am) disappointed for the Bangladesh fans and players not being here. We know that this is an opportunity that probably shouldn't have been there. But at the same time, we're very grateful that we were the next highest ranked team and we just wanted to put our best foot forward."

Scotland's squad is not one of greenhorns, with George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif and skipper Richie Berrington among others boasting oodles of experience. Bruce's own tryst with leadership with the Stags and New Zealand A has given the team an extra head to turn towards, even though he sees it as a two-way learning curve.

"I'm just trying to add my two cents where possible, or have another experienced head to lean on or throw ideas at. To come full circle, ten years down the track and to be with them again is pretty awesome. I've been able to learn stuff from these guys and I hope that they've been able to learn a wee bit from myself as well," Bruce says.

Amidst all this is the balancing act of managing a young family. Bruce, who calls his wife Felicity 'very forgiving' of all his travel, is a father to a daughter and a son, aged five and one respectively. And as much as most cricketers in their 30s tend to have young families, it's a tad more challenging in Bruce's case given that he has to shunt between the Central Stags - he still resides in New Zealand - and Scotland.

"My daughter's just started saying, 'I don't want you to go to cricket. I just want you to stay at home.' So it certainly becomes a lot tougher. But you certainly know that it's not going to be a forever thing. Once cricket's done, it's done. You know you're back home for good there. It's certainly a balance and you're not always going to get it right as well, but you try your best," Bruce says.

As Bruce enters that phase of his career where he relishes every opportunity on the big stage, there are a few boxes to tick off - including a potential face-off against his old mates from the Black Caps, should Scotland qualify for the Super Eights at England's expense.

"It would be very special knowing that I've played against a lot of those boys. There's obviously a bit to go between now and then - a couple of big games, first against England. I know the boys are up against it but we'll be giving it a real top crack," Bruce says.

Whatever unfolds, he will have a tale to tell his own grandchildren one day, much like his own grandmother took him back in time.