Recently, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) announced awards for the performance in the previous year. The MCA announced awards for all categories. The ELF Vengsarkar Cricket Academy which is headed by former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has been training young cricketers for the last few years. When the MCA announced awards for the year 1998-99, four wards of the ELF Vegsarkar Cricket Academy bagged all the honours.

Swapnil Hazare, known as the 'karate kid', won all the awards in the under-19 category. The athletically built all-rounder bowls medium-pace and has a natural outswinger. Former Indian mediumpacer Balwinder Sandhu has already singled out Hazare for praise in the past. Hazare had a very successful year playing for the Indian under-19 team, picking up 19 wickets. The other cricketers from the academy who bagged awards were Onkar Khanvilkar, Vinit Indulkar and Swapnaj Thakur. Both Indulkar and Thakur amassed more than 1000 runs in one season at an average in excess of 50.

Vengsarkar was overjoyed at the MCA's selection and said that this was only the beginning. He added that there were several more young cricketers under his care who would make it big in future.