Sports may just be the greatest teacher of all. You can learn many life lessons from it. Cricketers work hard, be patient and work on improving their game continuously and consistently. Similarly, in life, we need to take several crucial and consistent decisions to be financially stable. One such vital financial decision we need to take every single year is investing in health insurance. Yes, if you look closely, you will notice that there is a lot about money management and investing that you can learn from cricketers.

In this article, we have listed some interesting health insurance facts and lessons you can learn from the game of cricket and cricketers.

Cricketers and health insurance plans have more in common than we realise. Some interesting facts about health insurance include the following.

1. Starting early is the key to enjoying the benefits of cricket and financial management

   Most of the successful cricketers we know today, first played for smaller teams like their school, college and state teams. This means that they started their cricket journey at a young age. They attended cricket coaching sessions and participated in various regional and state level tournaments. With each tournament, they came one step closer, until they were chosen to play for the national side, representing India in international tournaments.

   Just as cricketers spend their early years learning and improving their game, we too can enjoy various benefits of health insurance by investing while we are younger. For example, you are at your healthiest best when you are younger. Like cricketers, you are also more physically active, which, in turn, benefits your health. If you buy health insurance when you are young, healthy, and less likely to fall ill, insurers charge a lower premium. You can also easily ride out the mandatory waiting periods and enhance your insurance coverage with the no–claims bonus benefit.

2. Cricketers learn to prepare for the unexpected, a key feature of health insurance

   Whether it is a T20 tournament, a one–day match, or a test series – predicting the outcome of a game is almost impossible. You can never tell when a set player may lose his wicket, or how long it will take for a bowler to get wickets. Similarly, you can never tell if the next ball will be an in–swinger, a bouncer, or a yorker. A good batsman, however, is one who knows which ball to hit and which to let go.

   Like cricketers learn to prepare for the unexpected, you too can prepare for the bouncer’s life throws your way, in the form of a sudden medical diagnosis. The bouncers could be anything – a critical illness diagnosis, an exhausted sum insured, or a disability that impacts your ability to hold on to a job and be financially independent. With the various riders you can get in your health insurance plan, you can prepare for the unexpected and manage your finances without depleting your savings.

3. Consistency is the key to long–term positive outcomes

   There is a reason why people remember cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar, Don Bradman, Brian Lara and Viv Richards even years after they retired from the game of cricket. These extra ordinary men consistently and constantly played excellent games and set world records. Their contribution led to their teams’ victory in many games. While they had their bad days, they never gave up their love for the game. They worked on excelling at it and are considered cricket icons today.

   An undeniable healthcare insurance fact is that being consistent like these cricketers does pay off in the long run for health insurance buyers. If you keep renewing your health insurance policy every year, you stand to enjoy a host of benefits. A vital benefit you can enjoy from renewing your policy regularly, is an increased sum insured amount. Insurers typically enhance your sum insured by up to 50%, if you do not file any claims for five consecutive years as a policyholder. Plus, you do not lose out on your accumulated insurance benefits if you renew your policy on time.

4. Cricketers have their teams’ back, as health insurance has your family’s

   Cricket is not like badminton, tennis, or chess, where one individual player plays against another. One of the most crucial virtues cricketers learn, is building team spirit. Batsmen learn the importance of putting up as many runs on the scoreboard. While fielders must save every run they can, bowlers must get as many wickets as possible. Thus, each player must ensure their team comes before their personal glories or records.

   In life, your family members are your team mates. Be it your children, spouse, or parents, every family member holds an important place in your life. You can ensure you have your family’s back by investing in family health insurance plans under which every insured member can enjoy insurance benefits.

As is apparent, there are many interesting health insurance facts that we can learn from cricketers. If you want to lead a long healthy life, you must be prepared for the unexpected, and give your family the support they need following a medical diagnosis. You can do this with SBI General Insurance’s Health Edge Plan – our entirely digital health insurance offering.

A comprehensive health plan, Health Edge comes with 9 basic covers and 18 additional, customisable riders. You can enjoy a maximum sum insured of up to 25 lakhs along with an unlimited refill cover rider through which you can replenish your sum insured amount. What’s more, you can purchase the plan online via the SBI General Insurance app.