The last time an incumbent captain of India joined an English county side was in 2000, when Sourav Ganguly pitched up at Lancashire. The story goes that early on, such was their overseas signing’s attitude that he handed his batting partner, one Mike Atherton, his sweater during a break in play with orders to run it back to the dressing room.

It’s a great line but, sadly, one that is apocryphal, or has at least been spun to such an extent that Muttiah Muralitharan would have been be proud. Atherton did briefly find himself holding said cable-knit while his team-mate made a sartorial adjustment but apparently no such instruction was given.

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Nevertheless, that such an embellishment followed is still symptomatic of Ganguly’s time at Old Trafford as a man apart. Andrew Flintoff said it was like having “Prince Charles” in the team, such was his regal demeanour. Ian Austin lamented the fact he “made no attempt to join in socially” and did not truly deliver with the bat after turning up believing “county cricket would be a doddle”.

Others simply described a cricketer who was a little reserved – hardly a first – and worked his hours. Ganguly himself has since explained that long playing days meant drinking after stumps was not his thing, not least since his wife, Dona, was with him in Manchester and did not know many people.

The Ganguly-Lancashire mismatch came to mind when The Spin began pondering the impending arrival of Virat Kohli at Surrey for his mutually beneficial month-long spell in June. The India captain, desperate to avoid a repeat of a 2014 horror show that yielded 138 runs in 10 innings against England, can adjust to conditions before the Tests in August, while the club and the County Championship will be swamped by an avalanche of stardust.

Beyond the inevitable grumbles about English cricket pointing the blunderbuss to the foot of its own national team, what can his new team-mates expect from Kohli? Will he be rocking up and throwing his bats to Rikki Clarke for extra linseed oil, or ordering Sam Curran to fetch him 1,000 brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass as a pre-condition of taking the field? After all, this is a cricketer with a combined social-media following of 83 million people, estimated annual earnings of £20m (thanks to deals with Puma, Tissot, Audi and Pepsi) and is one half of India’s leading power couple following his marriage to Bollywood’s Anuskha Sharma. Surrey have long had a reputation as the south London strutters who love a big-name signing, but Kohli surely tops the lot.

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To this end, The Spin enquired as to what is in store for the dressing room in SE11 by asking Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, two upstanding Brummies who have spent the past six weeks playing under Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, for something of a character reference.

“I know a few of the Surrey guys and they are not what people make them out to be a lot of the time. But if anyone in that dressing room does think they are a big dog, they will need to sit down for a little while because there is a proper big dog coming,” says Moeen with tongue is slightly in cheek.

“You have your perceptions of someone like Virat, who is quite passionate, emotional, in your face and plays it hard,” explains Woakes. “But off the field he’s very calm and you can chat about anything. He’s very down to earth and for someone who has such huge pressures and public focus in India, to see him go about his business in this way quite refreshing.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Virat Kohli, seen here at the launch of his hat collection in Mumbai last month, has many distractions outside of cricket. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Moeen adds: “You see him on the field and people might think he’s arrogant but it is the complete opposite. He’s so humble it is almost weird how nice he is. He’s the biggest name in India but will ring me to check I’m OK or ask if I fancy lunch. Sometimes a player will invite the squad to their house for a meal and it would be easy for him to say no. But he would always go. I can say with certainty that anyone who has a bad word doesn’t know the guy.”

Though Kohli’s presence in county cricket will doubtless draw huge focus – no bad thing at a time when the English game is finally trying to break down barriers to entry for the South Asian community – it will still be a step down in intensity from the hothouse of India. Indeed AB de Villiers, another RCB team-mate, told The Spin he expects the 29-year-old to one day finish his career in England for this reason.

Says Woakes: “In my first year of IPL I found as an overseas player you get a lot of attention walking through airports in India. But having him in the team – the No 1, the king – we’re almost irrelevant. It makes you realise what his life is like. So county cricket will be much more chilled and he’ll enjoy that. Playing at smaller grounds, that will be an experience too. Having spoken to him about it, he loves touring other countries – it’s a release.”

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When Surrey confirmed the deal, director of cricket Alec Stewart said one of the main benefits will be watching his off-field preparation – not least his dedication to fitness – with Woakes giving a glimpse of just what this means.

“Around 30 minutes before the bus leaves for a match, he does what he calls a ‘priming session’ in the gym,” he says. “It’s like a short burst of Olympic weightlifting. It’s certainly different but it works for him. Overall, his fitness work is having a serious impact on the next generation of Indian players. He’s leaner, fitter, more agile than those before.”

For Moeen, however, Kohli’s overriding impact on Surrey will probably be his drive: “When he crosses the line he just wants to win. But it’s winning with control, not win at all costs. They will see his passion for the game. It is unbelievable.

“And the fact he’s coming in a day and age when people are trying to play as much T20 as they can, that sums him up – he’s just dedicated to improvement. The England series is big for him personally and he’s giving himself the best chance to succeed.”

The latter point may leave some frustrated and the fact it means missing Afghanistan’s inaugural Test in India will irk others. But there is little question that county cricket is going to get an almighty jolt when Kohli arrives next month, not least to any “big dogs” in south London.

• This is an extract taken from The Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.