Blast disease caused by the fungus pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae is one of the most severe diseases of rice. The remaining members of the complex isolated from rice and a variety of other hosts have been renamed Magnaporthe oryzae. Confusion on which of these two names to use for the rice blast pathogen remains, as both are now used by different authors. Many control procedures are used for the management of rice blast disease, but due to the instability of blast fungus, production remains threatened by blast disease Traditionally, chemical control method is most effective however, the use of chemicals is not generally desired due to the serious environmental threat it poses in rice. Although biocontrol agents for blast have been successfully deployed to combat the disease in the laboratory greenhouse and fields the feasibility of such strategies on a commercial scale still remains to be tested in the natural fields condition. For effective management of blast disease, breeding program should be focused on utilizing the broad spectrum of resistance genes and pyramiding of genes and quantitative trait loci. The availability of rice and M. oryzae genome sequence data is facilitating blast resistance management program to new paradigms which includes isolation and characterization of R and Avr genes.