Katariya was picked in the Indian junior team in 2006 and she made it to the senior national team in 2010. She was a part of the team that won bronze at the
2013 Junior World Cup in
Mönchengladbach,
Germany. She was India's top scorer in the tournament, having scored 5 goals in 4 games. In an interview she called the bronze medal her favorite moment, "It has to be when we won the bronze medal at the World Cup in Germany. My father was called by the media and he had tears in his eyes. So, making my father proud is the best moment of my hockey career." She won her 100th cap while playing against
Canada in
2014 Commonwealth Games in
Glasgow,
Scotland. "We clearly missed Vandana during the Hawke's Bay Cup. Her being back in the team strengthens our attack as she is good with speed and skill, to break the defence chain, which at times leaves the opponents on the back foot," said Kataria's 21-year-old teammate Poonam Rani. Katariya was honored with Hockey India's Player of the Year Award in 2014. At the
Round 2 of the
2014–15 FIH Hockey World League, she finished with 11 goals top-scorer, with India winning the tournament. "In my book, Vandana is one of the top forwards in world hockey. She is quick, can score goals, can defend and is improving all the time," Indian women's hockey team's stop-gap coach
Roelant Oltmans said after her performance in Round 2 League. After qualifying for
2016 Summer Olympics Katariya said: The Indian team won a silver at the Asian Champion Trophy, 2018, losing to Korea. Vandana Katariya won the player of the tournament award. Katariya played her 200th match in the third of the five-match series in India's tour of
Spain in June 2018 ahead of the
World Cup. She was named in the 16-member squad for the World Cup. In the
2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Vandana became first Indian woman to score an Olympic hat-trick in hockey. Her family was subjected to casteist slurs after India lost to Argentina in the semifinals. Certain upper-caste men allegedly hurled abuses at Katariya's family saying that the team lost the Olympic semifinal as it had too many
Dalit players. On August 8, 2021, she was appointed the brand ambassador of the centre's '
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Andolan'. ==International goals==