With India scheduled to play a series of matches away from home in the next 12 months, Kohli will be tested both as a batsman and leader ©AFP

In his pithy, and extremely readable book ("Imperfect"), Sanjay Manjrekar makes some telling points about our game. Most of those are worthy of a larger, more academic discussion, but I am going to pick two because they are relevant to our times and in particular, to this team in South Africa.

Sanjay writes with a lot of feeling for the oneness that existed in his school, college and university teams and even more so in the Mumbai set-up he was part of. He writes about how everyone wished he did well and that he didn't experience that warm atmosphere in theIndianteams he was part of. He wishes he were led by someone like Imran Khan (in my view one of the greatest leaders our game has seen) who was aware of his stature and so was able to nurture a generation of young cricketers who became outstanding.

When you play for your country, as opposed to your university or even your state team, you are in the midst of people enveloped by ambition and insecurity. Those two are ordered pairs, they live together and it requires a fine leader to separate them and get these players to look beyond themselves and at the larger picture, the team they play for. Leaders who can do this are inherently fair and honest people and leave their players in no doubt about where they stand in their eyes. They are aware that a player's first instinct is to play for himself, occasionally not even be disappointed by a colleague's failure if it strengthens his presence in the team. It requires a combination of firmness and empathy, of toughness and concern within the captain. These are rare but not impossible combinations and are present in almost all great leaders.

These are the qualities Virat Kohli must demonstrate if he has to make the transition from great player to great leader. He has a lot going for him. He is passionate about success, about demanding that players seek new highs in their own performance; he is driven and these are all qualities good leaders should have. But this is an approach that works very well with equally driven, equally confident players. But not everyone is that way. Some require an arm round their shoulder, some are unaware of their own ability and need to be gently led, some are emotional. They require different buttons to be pressed to unlock the matchwinner that resides in almost all of them.

Even in the hard world of Australian sport, there were many who warmed to John Buchanan's style of reaching out to players and understanding them. The tougher, driven ones like Shane Warne didn't care too much for that style because they didn't need it, they were cut from a different cloth. But I have spoken to more than one "tough" Aussie player who said he benefited from Buchanan's style. Interestingly, when Warne was captain of Rajasthan Royals, and had players who were in awe of him and came from a very different, very obedient culture, he was able to reach out to them, occasionally even comfort them and in doing so, got the best out of them.

The take-no-prisoners approach that works so well for Kohli may not be as good for others especially in demanding circumstances. In home conditions, where victory is round the corner, it is much easier because winning is a glue and everyone is feeling happy and confident. The insecurity is greater in alien conditions and while we are too far away to know what the real situation is, Kohli gives the impression that he wants everyone to play the game the way it comes to him.

Normally, the comforting role is played by the coach or someone else in the support staff because they don't have to worry about their own game and they have seen a little more of life. They can play the father figure, more really the elder brother, that every player needs. It was these people that Sanjay found when he was at school or at Podar College or playing for Mumbai and didn't when he was playing for India.

He talks very highly too of players like Ravi Shastri who came hard at you for slacking off in the face of competition and then sat you down to explain things to you and help you grow. Sanjay's brief unwillingness to play a difficult role that was unlikely to offer much success (and he writes with such great candour about it) was looked down upon in Mumbai circles but people like Shastri helped him realise why he was wrong and helped him become a tougher player.

I don't know what the relationship is from this distance but Kohli needs that Shastri alongside him, being hard and nice at the same time to young players. I thought Shastri's finest hour was when he took a bunch of impressionable young men and helped them grow as players in winning the Ranji Trophy before he retired in 1993. Shastri needs to play that role with young players on tour, players who are very good but who may not have seen failure and cruel public opinion at such close quarters too often.

Kohli will be tested in the next twelve months. As a batsman, yes, but even more so as a person and leader. I get the impression when I hear Kohli at press conferences that he believes the world is against him. Nothing can be further from the truth for few Indian cricketers in history have been as admired and looked up to. The world isn't against him, it is overwhelmingly for him. But even as skilled, as committed and as driven a player as Kohli needs that elder brother's arm round his shoulder; an arm that is sometimes comforting and encouraging, at others disagreeing and critical but always for him.

I am not too worried about India losing two test matches in South Africa. But I am very interested in seeing how these wonderfully talented young men react to defeat and whether they grow as a result.

Meanwhile, do read Sanjay Manjrekar's book. It will make you think like it made me think.

© Cricbuzz