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PNN
New Delhi [India], April 27: Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is set to enroll at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Jalandhar -- not as a brand ambassador, but as a student. LPU invited Kishan to visit the campus, and what began as a courtesy tour ended with him asking to take admission. A CAMPUS THAT WON HIM OVER Ishan's visit to the sprawling LPU campus in Phagwara was extensive. He was taken on a guided tour that covered the length and breadth of what the university has to offer -- and by most accounts, the scale of it left him visibly impressed. The Uni Mall, LPU's celebrated on-campus commercial complex that brings together food courts, retail stores, and recreation zones, was among the first stops. For a young man who has spent much of his life in hotel rooms and cricket stadiums, the self-contained world within LPU's gates was a revelation. He was also shown the Sports Complex -- a state-of-the-art facility that has produced athletes who have competed at the national and international level. For a professional cricketer who understands the value of quality infrastructure, this was not lost on Kishan. The campus itself -- spread across hundreds of acres with its own transport system, hostels, and academic blocks -- rounded out a visit that left Kishan with one clear thought: he wanted to come back, this time as a student. "SO, WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF ADMISSION?" At the end of his tour, Kishan did something nobody in the room had quite anticipated. He turned to the university's leadership and asked, with complete directness: "I have visited the whole campus. I loved the Uni Mall. I loved everything I saw. So -- what is the process of admission? NEWSPAPER ON THE FLOOR, DEODORANT IN HAND During his visit, Ishan also opened up about where his journey began -- and he did not reach for a polished version of it. He recalled a train journey to Dehradun for a cricket tournament: a young Ishan and his brother travelling together, the compartment packed, no seat to be found. The two brothers ended up sitting on newspaper spread out on the floor -- right next to the train washroom. The smell, Kishan recalled, was overwhelming. But his older brother, quiet protector -- had come prepared. He pulled out a deodorant and sprayed it on Ishan so that the stench of the washroom would not keep him from resting before the tournament. Two brothers, on a train floor next to a toilet, one of them being sprayed with deodorant so he could sleep -- on their way to chase a dream that most people around them could not yet see. CRICKET AND CLASSROOM What makes Ishan's decision particularly compelling is the intention behind it. This is not a ceremonial enrolment designed to generate headlines -- it is, those close to him say, a genuine desire to continue his education alongside his cricket career. His decision to enrol at LPU, quietly and on his own terms, reflects a belief that a life built only around sport is a life only half built. For LPU, the association carries its own significance -- not the kind that comes from a carefully worded endorsement contract, but the kind that comes from a student who chose to be there. A student who once sat on newspaper by a train washroom, holding on to a dream, and arrived here entirely on his own terms. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same.)
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