Bokhari made his first-class debut in 1951–52 at the age of 16, opening the batting for the Punjab Governor's XI against
Punjab University. As "I.A. Bokhari", he spent a year at school in England at
King's Ely, where he scored 453 runs and took 19 wickets in 1953. He went up to
Cambridge University later that year. He appeared in the freshmen's match in 1954 alongside his compatriot
Shaharyar Khan, but neither was selected for the
university team. He played for
Cambridgeshire in the
Minor Counties Championship in 1956, scoring 649 runs in seven matches at an average of 72.11, and won the competition's batting award. He eventually played one match for Cambridge University, the first match of 1957, but without success. Returning to Pakistan, Bokhari played two matches as an opening batsman for
Punjab in the
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 1957–58, and two for
Lahore in 1958–59, with a top score of 27. He was in outstanding form for Lahore in the inaugural season of the
Ayub Trophy in 1960–61. In the first match he became the first player to score a
double century in the Ayub Trophy when he scored 203
not out against Punjab University; in the semi-final he made 0 and 100 not out against Rawalpindi and Peshawar; in the final he made 50 (Lahore's top score) and 4 not out, to finish the competition as the leading batsman with 357 runs at 178.50. Bokhari scored his last first-class century in the first match of the 1961–62 season, when he made 106 against
Multan. He played one match for
Sargodha, captaining them in the Ayub Trophy in 1964–65, when he top-scored in both innings in a low-scoring match with 17 and 45 against
Combined Services. ==Political career==