Security was tight for the opening Tuesday of the first bilateral cricket series between Pakistan and India in five years.

Thousands of paramilitary soldiers and police stood outside Chinnaswamy Stadium in the Indian city of Bangalore, while fans endured body searches and went through metal detectors before passing through.

Surveillance cameras monitored activity in and around the stadium.

The cricket series includes five matches and is seen as part of a gradual thaw in relations between Pakistan and India, two nuclear-armed rivals.

Bilateral ties were frozen four years ago after Pakistani-based gunmen carried out terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India that killed 166 people.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the siege. It claims the attacks were carried out with state support from Pakistan — a charge Islamabad denies.