KATHMANDU: A burst of seven wickets by Rahul Kumar BK saw Nepal clinch their first ever senior-level one-day international (ODI) championship trophy today as the home team beat the USA by five wickets in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division League Division-V final match here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium. The USA were heading for a mammoth total before the left-arm spinner remarkably restricted the Americans to 172 runs in 47.2 overs. The USA were comfortably placed at 141-2 before losing eight wickets for just 31 runs. In reply, Nepal surpassed the total losing five wickets in 46.5 overs. Skipper Steve Massiah (55) and Orlando Baker (49) top scored for the USA — who beat Nepal in the last league match a day earlier. Rahul finished with 7-15 off 8.2 overs — the best bowling figure of the tournament — that also earned him the man-of-the-match trophy. Openers Anil Mandal (37) and Mahesh Chhetri (28) eased the home team’s run chase when they put on 85 runs inside 23 overs. Despite the sound start, Nepal lost five wickets before Gyanendra Malla, who remained unbeaten on 28, and Mehboob Alam (17 not out) guided their team home with 19 balls to spare. Nepal and the USA were promoted for Division-IV yesterday after the last round matches. Nepal pipped Singapore to qualify on better net run rates. The Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-IV is scheduled for Italy in August 14-21 later this year. Nepal and the USA join hosts Italy, Tanzania, Cayman Islands and Argentina in the Division-IV — the second step of the 2015 ICC World Cup ladder. The result also saw both Nepal and USA move two spots up in the ICC ranking. Nepal climbed up to 29th, while the USA moved to 30th. Nepal skipper Paras Khadka said their priority was to get the promotion to Division-IV. “We played with less pressure today after getting the promotion. Everybody contributed, but Rahul was phenomenal,” said the skipper. Coach Roy Luke Dias largely credited Rahul for the win. “His spell was magical. It changed the whole complexion of the game,” said the former Sri Lankan Test international. This was the first silverware the Nepali senior ODI team had ever claimed since making it to the final of the ACC Trophy in Singapore in 2002. Led by Raju Khadka, Nepal had lost to the United Arab Emirates by six wickets in the final. Raju Khadka also led Nepali senior team to the tri-nation Emerging Nations Cup victories twice in 2003. Skippered by Binod Das the senior team has also won the ACC Premier League Three-day Tournament in 2006. Meanwhile, Bahrain beat Singapore by three wickets in the third-place play-off at the Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya grounds and Jersey defeated Fiji by five wickets in the fifth-place playoff at the Pulchowk Engineering College grounds today. Bahrain’s Tahir Dar was declared the man-of-the series.